Wiregrass Farmers Market opens for spring season

TIFTON – The Wiregrass Farmers Market, located at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College’s Georgia Museum of Agriculture, has opened for the spring season.  
 
Market Manager Randi Hickman said that the market boasts more than 40 registered vendors selling everything from baked goods to artwork and fresh produce to plants. The spring market season runs from April 13 until July 27, and the market is open every Saturday from 9 a.m. until noon. 
 
“The market has really grown over the years, and we have a lot of great vendors,” she said. “If they haven’t come and seen it, we hope they’ll come spend a Saturday with is and see what all our vendors have to offer.” 
 
Hickman said that the vendors rotate out throughout the season so each market will have something different. A recent Saturday included fresh flowers, produce, baked goods, hard-carved knives, jewelry, freeze-dried candy, lathe-turned bowls, an assortment of sweet treats, and much more.  
 
The market offers more than just shopping for the community; it is also a hands-on learning opportunity for students from ABAC’s School of Arts and Sciences, according to Dr. Russell Pryor, who recently became the market coordinator. 
 
“The Wiregrass Farmers’ Market is entering into its fourteenth year in Tifton and its second year as an asset of the School of Arts and Sciences,” Pryor said. “From my new position as Market Coordinator, I’ve worked closely with Dr. Matthew Anderson, Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences, Market Manager Randi Hickman, and members of the Wiregrass Farmers’ Market Board and we are all eager to see the market develop into a place where our campus becomes a site for collaboration with the broader Tifton and South Georgia community in new ways.” 
 
“Not only does the market play a key role in helping build and support our local community, it also has tremendous value as real-world experiential learning laboratory for our students,” said Anderson. “We have several student interns who help manage the day-of operations of the market and play a key role in marketing it on social media. Through their work at the market, the students get the opportunity to network with community members and to develop professional skills that help prepare them for a wide variety of careers following their time at ABAC. ” 
 
Pryor said that they have plans to expand the types of experiential learning opportunities for ABAC students at the market. 
 
“For a college with an agricultural mission but with students who also study politics, history, writing, biology, and business, among other subjects, it seems to me that the Wiregrass Farmers’ Market is an invaluable resource for experiential learning,” Pryor said. “I’m excited about this season, but, more than anything, I’m excited for the potential the market has for our students and our community.”