Gardendale Alabama Farmers Market

Beautiful weather is predicted for tomorrow. There’ll be the
vegetables and fruits, honey, fried pies, and other baked goods. Last
week, we had a new vendor Donney Harwell, Jenny Harwell Art, selling
delicious home made muscadine juice. Thom and Lou Ann Duran, Two Fat
men Catering, will be selling their delicious Italian dishes and steak
sandwiches. America’s First Federal Credit Union will have their
mobile ATM unit available. Please come out and support our growers and
vendors.
By the way, Tractor Supply, located on Hwy 31 in Gardendale, is
planning on having a farmers market on September 22nd, and they’re
looking for vendors to sell produce or crafts. If you’re interested,
please call them at 205-631-0766 for details.

This will be our twelfth week of operation with seven more to go. We
had a great response last week until the storm hit, around noontime,
and it was nice seeing so many customers. We had a new vendor Susan
Swindal, Mama Suz Fried Pies, selling her home made fried pies; it was
obvious they’re good because she sold a lot of them. We welcomed
back Marisa Sandlin, Marisa’s Maile, selling homemade jewelry;
earrings, bracelets, anklets, necklaces, and key rings. We’ll be
welcoming Jennifer Harwell, Jennifer Harwell Art, selling alcohol free
pomegranate wine; free samples will be offered. Thom and Lou Ann
Duran, Two Fat Men Catering, will be selling their delicious Italian
meals and steak sandwiches. Cheyenne Batson, Chey’s Crunchy Crafts,
will be selling homemade soaps, lotions, bath bombs and candles. Due
to a technical problem, the America’s First Federal Credit Union
mobile ATM unit will not be available. There’ll be the normal
produce, fruits and vegetables, honey, and baked goods for sale. We
now have a special booth for veterans; members of the Viet Nam
Veterans (VVA) and United Veterans Service (UVS) will be manning the
booth along with other veterans who served honorably. At the present
time, Navy Senior Chief Petty Officer (Ret), Benny Reeves, Marine
combat veteran Jeremy Smith, Viet Nam combat veteran Joe Stahlkupp,
and new comer Bill Carter will be giving out vet-related and the
Veterans Administration (VA) information; Jeremy will be selling hand
carved wood items. Some customers have asked about the knife
sharpener, Bill Woodard, who is in his final stages of colon cancer;
at this time, please put Bill and his family in your prayers. Please
keep coming and support our growers and vendors.

Tomorrow is the first day of school, and we’d like to see as many
of you as possible. Even though the forecast is for a 60% chance of
storms, we’ll be set up on the lawn. We have a new fried pie vendor,
Susan Swindle, Mama Suz Fried Pies, starting tomorrow. There’ll be
the usual produce, vegetables and fruit, honey, fried pies, homemade
jewelry, and homemade balms, lotions, candles and other products. Two
Fat Men Caterers will be selling their delicious steak sandwiches and
Italian dishes, and America’s First Federal Credit Union will have
their mobile ATM unit available. We’ve recognized our veterans with a
booth manned by different organizations; lately, we’ve had members of
the Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA). Please come out and support our
growers and vendors.

The market will be open tomorrow on the blacktop near Main St. At the
present time, I’m not sure if we’ll have anyone selling baked
goods or if our caterer, Two Fat Men Catering, will be with us;
we’ll have to see what happens with the weather. I’ll try to make
an entry in the morning prior to us setting up. There will be produce,
honey, and lip balms and other personal products sold. America’s
First Federal Credit Union will have their mobile ATM unit present.
Please come out and support our growers and vendors. Also, please let
our sponsors, TriGreen Equipment; America’s First Federal Credit
Union; and Scott Cantrell, State Farm Insurance know you saw this
information. We hope to see you tomorrow.

We’re now half way through the market season. Tomorrow is predicted
to be a little on the hot side with very low humidity. We have a new
vendor, Marisa Sandlin, Marisa’s Maile, who hand makes jewelry.
We’ll have our young entrepreneur’s Sofia and Savanna Holliman,
Sister’s Go Bananas, selling homemade fruit popsicles. This will be
their last week before school starts. Lucy McGill will be doing
children’s story reading at 11:30 for the last time this season;
likewise, the bouncy will no longer be available after this week.
There will be seasonal fruit and vegetables, honey, chow chow, baked
goods, and homemade soaps, balms, and lotions. We’ll have our
caterers, Thom and Lou Ann Duran, Two Fat Men Catering, selling their
delicious steak sandwiches and Italian meals. One of our sponsors,
America’s First Federal Credit Union, will have their mobile ATM
available. Please let our other two sponsors know you saw this
message; Scott Cantrell, State Farm Insurance and TriGreen Equipment.
We’re very fortunate to have them as partners. Please come out and
support our farmers and vendors. See you tomorrow.

We’ll be open today with fresh fruit and vegetables, honey, baked
goods, and homemade soaps, chap stick and other personal items. Our 11
year old entrepreneur Shelby Evens, Kid Bakes, will be selling her
delicious cupcakes. We’ll have Two Fat Men Catering selling their
delicious Italian food. For the children, the inflatable will be up
and storytelling will take place at 11:30 AM. America’s First
Federal Credit Union will have their mobile ATM unit with us. Please
come out and support our growers and vendors.

We want to thank those of you that have been our steady customers,
and we’re still looking for new ones. We’ve only had one vendor
selling jams and jellies, and she has been building commercial
accounts which has been taking more of her time; as a result, she’ll
no longer be selling her products at this market. We’re in the
process of trying to find another vendor to sell jams and jellies.
We’ll have our mobile caterers, Thom and Lou Ann Duran, Two Fat Men
Catering selling their delicious steaks and Italian plates. The
America’s First Federal Credit Union will have their mobile ATM unit
at the market. We’ll have representatives from the Gardendale Quilt
Guild selling raffle tickets for one each Auburn and UAB quilt. Our
young entrepreneur’s, Savannah and Sofia Holliman, will be selling
their 100% fruit popsicles. There’ll be corn, okra, tomatoes, peaches,
cantaloupes, watermelons, string beans, potatoes, squash, honey, chow
chow, and home made soaps, lotions, balms, etc.
In a recent conversation with City Councilman Adam Berendt, he asked
me why we don’t have the market on Saturdays. I wasn’t part of the
original group that set up the market who decided to have the event on
Thursdays. This question has been brought up at our annual meeting in
the past, and the answer is basically that all our produce growers,
and most of the vendors, have other obligations at different markets
already.
As we’ve asked in the future, please consider doing business with
our three sponsors; America’s First Federal Credit Union; Scott
Cantrell, State Farm Insurance; and TriGreen Equipment. When you do,
please inform them that you saw this, and we thank you.
Please come out tomorrow and support our growers and vendors. See you
there.

The farmers market will be open tomorrow. Please come out and support
our growers and vendors. We hope all y’all had a nice Independence
Day.

Tomorrow will be our annual Veteran’s Recognition Program where all
veteran’s will be treated to a free meal thanks to Mayor Hogeland
and city employees. The program is scheduled to start at 12:00 noon.
The meal will be served indoors from 11:00 AM to 12 noon and resume
directly after the program is finished. The ANG Color Guard will
present the Colors, the guest speaker will be from the Birmingham VAMC
speaking about the way the veterans can now do everything via the
Internet, and the Marine Corps League will perform the Iwo-Jima
reenactment; the program will be held outdoors. There will be a few
veteran organizations manning booths. The children’s story time will
be at 11:00 AM instead of the usual 11:30 AM. The Gardendale Fire
Dept. will have a children’s activity with a hose to hit a target.
There will be the growers/vendors selling produce, jellies, honey and
honey products, spices, baked goods, and balms, lotions and associated
products. America’s First Federal Credit Union will have their
mobile ATM unit set up for business. Please come out and support our
farmers/vendors and veterans.

Tomorrow, we’ll be on the blacktop because of the weather forecast
for 70 % chance of rain. Most of our farmers/vendors will be present
selling their products. Next week, we’ll be having our annual
Veteran’s Recognition program with Mayor Stan Hogeland as MC, guest
speaker from the Birmingham VAMC, and concluding with the Marine Corps
League performing the Iwo-Jima reenactment. The event will start at 12
noon outside on the stage; if inclement weather, the event will be
held indoors. The City of Gardendale will provide a meal for all
veterans and their family. The meal will be served inside the civic
center from 11 AM to 12 Noon, and will resume about 12:30 when the
outdoor program ends. Please inform any veteran that you know about
this program, and we hope to have a large attendance.