Nashville Farmers Market: It's fun, fresh and local
Published: Apr 22, 2009
Sure, chain grocery stores offer tomatoes, onions, cucumbers and other produce. But those pickings dull in comparison to the fare offered at the Nashville Farmers Market, whose outdoor market boasts rows of gleaming fruits and vegetables.
The Nashville Farmers Market, located downtown on Rosa Parks Boulevard, is one of the city’s largest gathering places for shoppers seeking field-fresh tomatoes and cheap ears of corn. But more than that, it's a place that lets you find quality foods while supporting local growers.
The market has been a part of the Nashville community since the early 1800s. The early market was crowded with the wagons of vendors selling homegrown produce and other fresh products. Since then, the market’s location and structure have changed, but its purpose and vibe have not.
On a typical day at the market, the outdoor area is teeming with people smelling vegetables, thumping fruits and inspecting the prospective purchases. Vendors and produce resellers hover beside baskets and bins of squash, heads of lettuce and shiny, red apples.
There’s a buzz about the place, and shopping at the market seems to be a family affair for some; children can be spotted holding open bags for their parents' purchases or grasping apples and oranges in their small hands.
A plant market is also outdoors, and on the weekends the market has a flea market where independent entrepreneurs set up shops.
Inside the Market House are various restaurants with food options ranging from Chinese to Caribbean. You'll also find specialty food shops offering foreign sauces, chopped meats, bags of rice and more.
The market is open seven days a week, 8 a.m.-6 p.m. For information on selling your local produce, visit the market's web site.
- by Leah Caudle , Nashville Reporter for HelloMetro
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