Pikeville Farmers Market

Showcasing Mountain Food Culture and Heritage While Providing a Great Spot for Farmers to Sell

The Pikeville Farmers Market is making the move to a permanent structure this year thanks to business development help from KCARD and a $150,000 grant from the Kentucky Agricultural Development Board. As farmers are breaking ground this spring with new plantings, the Market will soon be breaking ground on a new pavilion. 

“This is a collaborative project between the city extension, and the market, but it would have never been possible without the dedication and support that we have received from the staff at KCARD,” said Joyce Pinson, a farmer and the volunteer market manager. “It didn’t happen overnight. KCARD has worked with us for more than two years guiding us through the process to develop a business plan and write the grant, but it has been worth the effort.”

“The Pikeville Farmers Market is growing, and this new structure will foster that growth by providing a good location, a permanent structure, and stability for the market,” says Aleta Botts of KCARD. “However, the real strength of the market lies in its vendors, the good relationships the leaders in the market have with the city and the Cooperative Extension, and the support of all those players to seeing a strong market develop in Pikeville.”

Thanks to the support of the Kentucky Agricultural Development Board, the Pikeville Farmers Market will be breaking ground on the new Market Pavilion soon. The Pikeville Farmers’ Market has hopes to move into their new pavilion in August 2016.

The Pikeville Farmers Market has seen significant growth in the last few years, with up to 20 vendors in attendance on market days. While the growth is exciting for Pinson, what she believes is the true success is the emergence of young farmers working to bring back the regional heritage through their products.

“We now have a lot of our vendors in their 30s embracing the heirloom vegetables of the region, like greasy beans and cushaw,” explained Pinson. “It is wonderful to see these young farmers involved in local food production, and I hope as the market grows this trend will continue to grow.”

To help bring more vendors to the market, the Pikeville Farmers Market decided to open vendor spots to farmers beyond the county lines. This past year farmers from Floyd and Martin County joined the market family, and Pinson said there has been interest from farmers in other surrounding counties.

“We are a regional hub and we are excited about that and are excited to open our market to our neighboring farmers,” said Pinson. “As we have expanded our growers, we have also expanded the variety of locally grown products we offer, which is bringing more customers to the market.”

Customers at the market were lined up before it even opened on market days in 2015, and most of the vendors sold out of products due to the great demand. 

“Our customers are great! It has been amazing to see how the farmers and customers have developed friendships through the years,” said Pinson. “It is also fun to have the University of Pikeville students that are not from the mountains come into the market. They are such a hoot asking about our local foods like greasy beans or purple dog creek tomatoes, and we take the time to teach them about our mountain culture through our food.”

Pinson says they learned early on that while people come to the farmers market for local products, it is also the sense of community that has grown with the market that brings people back each week. Building this sense of community has not happened by chance. Pinson explained the vendors and Cooperative Extension have worked together to develop special events such as the Corn Roast, 1950’s Day, the Pig Roast, and the popular Christmas in July event. 

“While these events bring new people to the market, we use the opportunity to educate our community on what it takes to bring the fruit and vegetable to the market,” said Pinson. “Our farmers work hard year round doing research, preparing the land, and during production season to bring the diversity of products to our customers.”

Pinson knows that the market still has room for improvements, and she expects that they will continue to work with KCARD on those efforts. For now though, she and the other vendors at the Pikeville Farmers Market are looking forward to saying goodbye to the tents that blew away in the wind and did little to help things dry last season when it rained at almost every Tuesday market. 

“KCARD has the vison and experience to guide us as we established goals, guidelines, and looked at the potential for market growth in our region,” said Pinson. “We are grateful that KCARD realized there was potential for agricultural growth in Pikeville and is willing to work with our small market.”

The Pikeville Farmers Market season begins in May and runs through November. Keep up with all the activities and learn more about products at the market by “Liking” the Pikeville Farmers Market on Facebook.