IN IUKA, IT’S MORE THAN JUST A FARMERS’ MARKET
In most cities and towns, the local farmers’ market gives nearby growers a chance to sell their produce and make some money. Usually, the economic benefits go almost entirely to the farmers themselves. But in Iuka, the newly-formed Tishomingo County Farmers’ Market is having an economic impact on the Iuka’s entire downtown business district, one that is growing by the month. On a recent visit to Iuka, Joel Robertson, the city’s mayor, told of the economic boom the market has been to his city.
“This event started with an informal group of citizens who decided the community needed it,” Mayor Robertson explained, “and that was only about six months ago. The growth has been explosive. We have regular vendors who rotate in and out, some vendors who come on an irregular basis, music vendors, and also food trucks. We rotate the music and the food trucks each week.”
The market is held in Jaybird Park, a long, deeply-shaded strip of land that separates the historic downtown retail buildings from the railroad tracks. The businesses along Front Street are only a few hundred feet from the park, an easy walk, and there is plenty of free parking. On market day, you can park right by Jaybird Park, and as soon as you get out of your car, you’ll hear the music. And the music, like the produce, arts, and crafts, is home-grown. There is a Victorian style gazebo at one end of the park in which the musicians perform – live music, of course, and often Bluegrass — and a professional quality sound system ensures that the performances are modulated to be easy on the ears. The music can be heard throughout the park, but there’s no need to shout over it in order to conduct business.
The market is held twice a month on Friday evenings beginning at 4:00 and running until 7:00 or 8:00 depending on the size of the crowd. If there are still a lot of shoppers at 8:00, the vendors will extend hours to accommodate them. On the day of our visit, the market had been open one hour, and an estimated 400 people had already passed through. Mayor Robertson told us the total walk-through that day would likely top 600 patrons.
“Iuka’s population is about 3,000,” he said, “so the normal head count of five or six hundred represents a significant group of customers brought into the downtown area. We have a lot of people coming to the market from well outside our area, so that’s new money coming into our community. And the downtown merchants benefit because of the proximity to local stores, maybe 100 to 150 feet away. Some of the merchants give us items to raffle off during the market, and that’s good advertising for them.”
Mayor Robertson gave us an idea of what can be found at the market. “In addition to produce, we also have a lot of craft vendors, and they are locally made craft items. Christmas and Thanksgiving decorative items are popular this time of years, and the pottery sells year-round. The vegetables are organically grown, not a lot of chemicals, and the produce is from small farms. Small farms don’t require a lot of start-up capital, so the market presents economic opportunities for a broad range of our local population.”
The Tishomingo County Farmers’ Market does indeed represent a collective effort. “The market is a result of citizen efforts,” Mayor Robertson said, “It didn’t come from the top down, it came from the bottom up. And it’s more than just farmers who benefit. It gives our local artists have a showcase for their talents, and our local musicians a chance to perform before live audiences. This is more than just a parking area where farmers back up four or five pickups and sell from the tailgate. And it’s remarkable that this is only our first Year. We’ve only been doing it a couple of months, and it’s just going to get better.”
One of the regular vendors is Meeks Family Farm, owned and operated by Christi and Russell Meeks. The farm has been operating just above the state line in Halls, Tennessee, but they are in the process of relocating operations to Tishomingo County. They are regular vendors at the market. “We started the farm in 2018,” Christi Meeks told us. “We are originally from Memphis, but our families, meaning grandparents and generations before that, were all in agriculture in West Tennessee. I was an advertising professional for almost 30 years in Memphis, and I decided I wanted something a little slower. We cook a lot and have a lot of old family recipes. We had some canning recipes, and it just started from there.”
Christi and Russell sell colorful bouquets of zinnias and various other flowers and herbs. They also sell an array of pickled vegetables, and two of the most popular offerings are candied jalapenos and pickled okra. They grow vegetables in season and place emphasis on produce that provides for “healthy eating and a healthy lifestyle. We want to promote that.” To that end, Christi and Russell seek to offer products and activities that facilitate a natural and stress-free lifestyle. “We’re going to incorporate health and wellness all the way around,” Christi said.
At Meeks Family Farm, the emphasis is on the natural. “We have natural bath and beauty products,” Christi said, “and we carry healing stones. We also have some driftwood and copper art, and we’ll have some bottle trees at the next couple of markets. We make the bottle tress out of cedar driftwood we find along the Tennessee River.” And the quest for stress relief is not limited to tangible products. “We had Yoga classes in Tennessee, and we look to do that here. I’m getting certified, so I’ll be teaching yoga classes.”
Soon, the whole operation will soon be in Tishomingo County. “We are moving our entire homestead and operation over by Goat Island on the lake (Pickwick),” Christi said. “We have goats, and we raised pigs last year. We were moving toward agritourism in Tennessee, and that’s what we plan to do here. We have four acres at Goat Island, and we’re thinking about doing a sunflower field. We did some pumpkins last year. So, yes, we are looking to incorporate the agritourism angle, for sure.”
Information about Meeks Family Farm can be found on both Facebook and Instagram.
We’ve already seen that the Tishomingo Farmers’ Market is a benefit to the Iuka retail community, but for one vendor it has been an introduction to the world of business. Young Bryer Walters, a fifth-grader at Iuka Middle School, has a stand at the market where he sells cotton candy that he makes himself. He taught himself how do it on the internet, and he bought his candy-making machine online. He’s become quite adept at the tricks of the cotton candy trade.
“A lot of people think you’ve got to do a little arm-swinging motion around the bowl,” Bryer explained, “but what you really do is hold the cone steady and move it against the sides of the machine as it swirls.” In other words, let the machine do the work. And he has learned about maintaining a business inventory. “I use paper cones and other supplies that I have to order over the internet,” he says. “We make the candy the night before the market, Thursday night, and we make thirty bags. We do that every night before a farmers’ market.” He’s also learning about retail selling. His mother proudly points out that he has learned how to make change without using a calculator. And unlike internet selling, at the market Bryer deals with customers face-to-face, a valuable real-life experience.
When asked how he decided to get into the cotton candy business, Bryer says he just had a desire to get into some type of business, and he decided on cotton candy. Once he did, he pursued the idea vigorously. “I guess it was just a little hyper-fixation,” he said. His mother says he begged her for two months to buy the machine. And it has proven to be more than a passing whim. In fact, Bryer has his eyes set on expansion, and has already found a second market for his products. “We sell all, or almost all, of our candy on market day,” he said, “and we also sell candy at JR Wholesale & Boutique (in Iuka).” He is also learning about business partnerships, since he and his mother are jointly operating the stand at the farmer’s market. He makes and sells the cotton candy, and together they sell hard candies and “shake-up” lemonade.
And what does the future hold for young Bryer? He has big plans. He has been saving the money he makes from the cotton candy and dreams of the day he and his mother can buy a food truck. “I want to help my mom save up for a food truck so we can do bigger events,” he says. And if history is any indication, that food truck is definitely in the future. All in all, the Tishomingo County Farmers’ Market has proven to be quite an effective classroom for fifth-grade Bryer Walters.
Another young vendor for whom the Tishomingo Farmers’ Market has been a gateway to the world of business is Mattie Potts. She’s a home-town girl who hails from nearby Burnsville, Mississippi, and she was the original vendor at the Tishomingo market. Mattie sets up at the market every Friday, and also sets up every Wednesday on her own. Mattie raises purple hull peas, the main staple of her produce offerings, but, as she explains, “fried pies are my main thing. I have any flavor you could think of. I also sell baked goods.” Those baked goods include cinnamon rolls, strawberry cakes, apple fritters, and cheese Danishes. Needless to say, it’s a full-time job, one that Mattie takes very seriously. “I just started participating in the farmers market last year, and it’s grown more than I ever imagined. It takes a lot of work to sell produce and cooked foods for a living, but anything you hope to succeed at in life takes work.”
And Mattie has worked hard all her young life. She just graduated high school, where she was president of her FFA chapter. She graduated from HS a year early, and is currently enrolled in Northeast Community College where she has completed her first year of study. From there, she’ll transfer to Mississippi State where she plans to major in Agricultural Banking and Finance. “I have been in agriculture my whole life,” she said, “and I know that not many kids want to get involved in it. They think it’s just for farm kids. But I would encourage anyone who has a craft, or can bake, or just has something they wanted to do.” She pointed across the park. “Like that guy across the way who sells cotton candy.” (Indicating Bryer Walters.) “He’s only in middle school, and he’s already selling on his own.”
Mattie Potts has a Facebook page at “Bless Your Pea-Pickin’ Heart.”