Founded by and for the local community, The Collierville Farmers Market celebrates Thursday mornings with a spread of locally-grown fruits and vegetables. COVID-19 has forced this team of farmers to spread out some, but you can absolutely still visit the market, located in the parking lot of a local church. Monica Casey tells us all about it on this episode of The Main and Mulberry Podcast.
Transcript:
Anna Bell (00:12):
Hello, everyone. I’m Anna Bell and welcome to another episode of Main and Mulberry. Today I’m so thankful to have with us Monica Casey, the social media and marketing coordinator for Collierville Tennessee’s farmer’s market. Monica. Thanks so much for taking a minute to talk with us today.
Monica Casey
Thanks for having me, Anna. Glad to be here.
Anna Bell
Oh yeah. We’re super excited to have you. Monica, I’d like to kind of kick things off to kind of learn a little bit about yourself and how you started helping with the Collierville farmer’s market.
Monica Casey
Well, I was actually volunteering in the Common Cup, which is the coffee shop inside Collierville United Methodist. And as I was volunteering on Thursdays, I was noticing the market outside and seeing all the fun and the activity and stuff. And so I decided I just wanted to get out there and be a part of it. And, and so the managers agreed to let me, and so here I am.
Anna Bell
Oh, that’s so cool. That’s a neat story. Now let’s take a second to kind of learn a little bit about the Collierville farmer’s market background. How long has the farmer’s market been in business? And maybe you can tell us the overall mission.
Monica Casey
Well, the market started in 2009, so we just kicked off our 11th season, which we’re really, really excited about. The whole mission of the market is just to provide reliable, fresh food, local, locally, grown food and products to the community, just to make sure they have a safe place where they can buy something that they know is just, you know, it’s been growing right down the street, so they know who’s growing it. They know how they’re growing it. And it’s a great way to give support to our local farmers.
Anna Bell (01:48):
Absolutely. I mean, not every town has a farmer’s market. This is kind of a special thing for Collierville, right?
Monica Casey
It is. It’s very special and it’s kind of got a quaint, hometown feel to it. A lot of that I think has to do to our location at Collierville United Methodist and you know, people just love a farmer’s market. It’s a great place to come and socialize and meet people. There’s not a whole lot of that going on right now, just because of our current situation with COVID. But, but we just love seeing everyone and having them to come out and just support local.
Anna Bell
So in, in relation to that, you know, it’s really no surprise that COVID-19 pandemic has affected all of us in one way or another. How has the farmer’s market been impacted?
Monica Casey
Well, the COVID-19 thing really, it threw us a curve ball. Totally unexpected, of course. And so the other managers and I have spent just hours and hours attending webinars from the Tennessee department of agriculture, thankfully they were there and along with so many other farmers markets that wanted to learn, you know, how to proceed and, and how to negotiate through these times and just provide the safest environment. So through all that, we’ve made decisions that effects how it looks when you’re at the market a little bit. I’d say the first thing you’ll notice when you get there, it’s just our location. We were in the back of the parking lot of the church and now we’ve moved up to the front and that’s just in order for us to be able to spread out more. So our vendors can have more space between each tent. We’ve got at least 10 feet between each vendor and that allows them to have just a safer boundaries, more distance, and it gives the customers plenty of space to, to have a safe place to shop.
Monica Casey (03:38):
Also of course we ask people to wear masks when they come out.
Anna Bell
Just wondering about that.
Monica Casey
You’ll see a lot of masks and it is kind of strange, but what you get when you get past it you know, you get used to it and it’s fine. And we know it’s all for the good of everybody. Social distancing, of course we love to see people, but we hope they don’t congregate. So we keep an eye on that. And then something else that a lot of our vendors are now offering, which we’re really excited about is you can order ahead. So if you go to our Facebook page or our Instagram page, you’ll see vendors listed who are able to do that. And so you can just link onto their website and order. And that way, when you show up, you can just go right up to their table and get your box of goodies and have very little contact. And then off you go.
Anna Bell (04:22):
That is so neat. Oh, I bet a lot of people are really appreciating that you’re offering that. Have you done that previously or is this is new, you know, due to the COVID-19 pandemic?
Monica Casey
This is a new thing that we’re trying, and the vendors seem to be really happy about it and the customers too. So I have a feeling this will continue throughout.
Anna Bell
Yeah. That’s, that’s really neat. So you had your grand opening that was May 28th, correct. So correct. And, and you kind of painted a picture here of what those you know, farmer’s market days of look like, can you kind of tell us, was everybody excited to see everyone again, you know, kicking things back off?
Monica Casey
So excited, you know, people are just craving to be together and, and to just be out and about, and, and to see the people just, just so happy, you know, I was gonna say it to see their smiling faces, but with masks on, you have to kind of imagine, but yeah, everyone was just so happy and everyone at the church was so welcoming, you know, and we just, it’s just been so refreshing and lovely just to see everyone and, and our host, by the way, they are the host with the most, the church. They make people feel happy to be there. And I certainly hope, you know, the vendor, the market, the market managers can do that too. We’re just so happy to see everyone. So we hope people won’t be afraid to come out and join us on Thursdays.
Anna Bell
That’s right. That’s right. Monica, I’d like to know a little more about your vendors, you know, has there been any change you know, with how many vendors that you’ve been hosting this year compared to previous years, and maybe you can just tell us a little overview of what kind of vendors we could expect to see this year.
Monica Casey
Well, you’ll see your typical vendors, the typical fruits and veggies that we all love. They’re just absolutely gorgeous things. The colors are amazing this year. But on top of that, you’ll see just an incredible variety. And we do have you know, not just food products, but they we have tons of skincare products, you know, there’s goats, milk lotions and creams and essential oils and kombucha and aquaponics and hydroponics produce, there’s CBD products for natural skin care and treats for the dogs. You know, we’ve got this great vendor that does natural treats that are, have no preservatives and all that good stuff.
Anna Bell
Little bit of everything it sounds like.
Monica Casey
It’s incredible. The meats, we have grass fed meats and free range chickens, and some of the best produce and, and fish, if you’re a fish person, we’ve got a fish that comes straight from the Gulf coast, it’s delivered just in a beautiful way. And we were really happy to have them aboard. So the variety is incredible. And also to answer your question about the vendors, a lot of those are going to be the same people you’ve seen in years past. Because unfortunately we’re not allowed to have any new vendors at this time, really pretty much due to space. So everyone can kinda spread out due to COVID. So you’ll see a lot familiar faces. Right now we currently have about 20 vendors and as more produce and things start to come in and we’ll have about 28 to 30 once we max out.
Anna Bell
So cool. I know personally, you know, my family, we have really made a significant switch to locally sourcing our produce and our meat. And I bet, you know, I’m willing to bet I’m not the only, only one. So in your opinion, why is it especially important to shop local and support our farmers right now?
Monica Casey
That’s a great question. You know, I think you’re not alone, Anna. People are wanting healthy food and they want to know how things are grown. They, they, they want to know that it’s healthy. It doesn’t have all the junk in it. And especially as, as we have growing families, we just want to provide the best. And there really is no better way than a farmer’s market. We’ve got a, you know, these are our friends, these are people we care about that are growing food. And not only just to have the best safest food, but also to support them.
Anna Bell
Right. Yeah. Couldn’t agree more. Let’s talk about what you guys are anticipating for the summer. You know, what will the summer look like for the farmer’s market? Will, will it be shopping as usual?
Monica Casey
Pretty much. Now we have adjusted our hours. So when people come in, they do get to come an hour earlier. So that’s good. Yeah, I think that’ll be helpful, right, exactly right. Yes. Yes. That, that, that heat that we have around here, we’ll get to stop an hour earlier. So the new hours are eight to noon. It was nine to one. We think that extra hour in the morning will allow for just more convenience for everybody and, and to stay out of the heat.
Anna Bell (09:01):
That’s awesome. You know, tell us what, what is unique about the Collierville farmer’s market, you know, and why should we all make it a point to visit on Thursdays?
Monica Casey
I think it’s unique. And that it’s the location. Again, just being at the church, it’s so easy in and so easy out and it’s good for families, you know, it’s easy to get your kids in and out briefly right now, while you know, COVID is happening.
Anna Bell
One of the things you can do with the kids, you know, they’re hesitant to take them into the stores, but this is outside. You know, you can enjoy yourself with the family.
Monica Casey
That’s right. And it’s you know, kids want to be outside anyway, and this is a great way that they can learn where their food comes from. You know, if we start them early, they’ll, they’ll know what’s good and what’s important. And they can learn from the farmers. And our farmers are such good folks to talk to and to educate. And they love meeting their customers. In fact, one of our vendors I saw him selling some of his gorgeous flowers. They, they grow the most beautiful flowers and he was, you know, helping a little girl with them and explaining what they were. And so it’s a real learning process for them. And so just the whole environment is it’s a great place to be. It’s unique and special. And ours is a market that’s during the week, you know, there’s so many of the great markets around here on the weekends. So we’re excited we can offer that on Thursdays.
Anna Bell
Yeah, that is, that’s a good point. Well, Monica to wrap things kind of up, can you give our listeners a run down again on, you know, where are you guys are located when you host the farmer’s market and just how they can get in touch with you guys if they have questions.
Monica Casey (10:40):
Sure. So we are located at Collierville United Methodist church. You’ll find us in the parking lot. We’re open on Thursdays from eight until noon. And what was the other question?
Anna Bell
How can I get in touch with you if they have a question?
Monica Casey
Yes, yes, yes. So you’ll find us good. Our website Colliervillefarmersmarket.org. Shoot us an email there if you’d like, and our social media is what I’m working on. So you can find us on Facebook and on Instagram.
Anna Bell
Oh, that’s great. All right. You heard it here first to go to the farmer’s market shop local, right?
Monica Casey
That’s right. Get those tomatoes. They’ll be coming in probably mid June, late June, along with those watermelons. So everybody’s excited about that.
Anna Bell
A BLT and a slice of watermelon sounds really right now, Monica, we sincerely appreciate your time and your insight today. Thank you.
Monica Casey
Thanks Anna.
Anna Bell
Until next time I’m Anna Bell sending you all well wishes.
Anna Bell (11:48):
This episode of Main and Mulberry is sponsored by Tour Collierville magazine. If you like Main and Mulberry, you’re going to love this hyperlocal lifestyle publication in Collierville Tennessee. Check out local content at www.tourcollierville.com or by downloading the Tour Collierville app in the Apple app store or Google Play store.