Let It Grow Organic Gardens

And I resumed the struggle. -Vladimir

Wednesday, September 07, 2005

The End of EZ Ups

Talk of a big farmer's market for Asheville has been in the air for years. It gets talked up and a committee gets foirmed, then that all fades away and then it gets talked up again and another committee gets formed. We're in committee mode again.
There are many an impetus for this go-round - waiting lists at most of the markets, the idea that a central locale will draw more people to farmer's markets, and what could be a really cool location.There are plans afoot to redo Asheville's riverfront. Its happening already, though slowly. All the old warehouses down along the river and the railroad tracks are being turned into - you guessed it: artist's studios. The idea is to expand on this - gentrify the entirety of the riverfront, from the old racetrack clear up to UNC-A, with a feeder branch backing up the Swannanoa to the Nature Center. Parks, bikeways, jogging rails. You get the idea.
And right in the middle of it all? A farmer's market.So there we'll be, hawking organic kale on a grassy green lawn as joggers go by with their kids in those three-wheeled push strollers, waving to people cruising by in Subarus with kayaks strapped to the roofs, trying to make conversation with people juggling a cappacino in one hand and a cell phone in the other.
And people say the Bush administration hates black people. But that's another thread.
Oh, but there's one thing wrong with the picture I painted above. We won't be on a green, grassy lawn. We'll be under a permanent farmer's market structure, what I've taken to calling a portico, for want of a better word, or, at least, a picture. What does this mean, other than the fact that our Local Food Guides won't get wet when it rains? Well, we won't all be fighting to get that one spot in the parking lot that gets fifteen minutes of shade. But also it means: No one will need an EZ Up.
The big farmer's market, should it ever come to pass, will mean the end to the EZ Up, at least as we know. Those flimsy aluminum and nylon portable shelters with a six month life span, de riguer at this point, will become a thing of the past. Toss them on the scrap heap of history like back issues of Mother Earth News. They won't be needed anymore. We'll have a portico.

This is the first part of what promises to be a long series of posts keeping you updated on the big farmer's market, or BFM.

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