Fox Park Fair

Yesterday was the season opening of our little Friday afternoon market that was started last year. We didn't have a whole lot to take (scallions, garlic scapes, Napa cabbage, eggs, and plants), but we did OK for the first day. We used to belong to the Greeneville Farmers Market, which is held on Saturday morning and which used to be a nice homey, small-town, open-air market. A few years ago, a few things happened in quick succession. First, somebody had the bright idea to incorporate and become a 501(c)3 non-profit so we could get better grants. I was on the interim board for that. Then we were getting too big for the parking lot we were using in town, so the search was on. Once a "permanent" board was chosen, I wasn't in the loop anymore. But DH and I did attend some of the board meetings. They had a consultant come in and (supposedly) help them do all the paperwork for incorporation and then the request for non-profit status. At the same time, a "deal" was made with the fairgrounds for the market to use a new shelter that was built there for cattle shows - about 100' x 150' pole barn with no walls. The first year there (2009?) was OK. It was nice to be under a roof when it rained. But a few people on the board were trying to make the rules more stringent and were getting a little too Hitler-esque. The turnover of board members was unbelievable. Then in 2010, it really got bad when the egg and baked goods sellers were no longer allowed to sell without inspection of their kitchens, etc. Then, to top it off, the board voted that the vendors no longer could vote on anything. The board's vote was the final say on anything they came up with. (This had been a vendor-run market up to this point.) And somewhere during that time, it was discovered that the consultant had steered the board in the wrong direction as far as the non-profit paperwork, which had to be resubmitted and was finally approved over this past winter. So a bunch of us defected. Over the winter of 10'-11', one of the vendors talked to the folks at the Nathaniel Greene Museum, which now owned a vacant lot across the street from them. As long as we didn't call it a farmers market and as long as a percentage of the take was donated to the museum, a bunch of us could set up there to sell. And so the Fox Park Friday Fair was born. The lot had been an old warehouse that was burned down by some kids playing with fire. The museum bought it and cleared it out (LOTS of bricks) with the intention of making a park. There's also an old log house that's been moved there from somewhere in the county that's now in the process of being chinked. The vendor donations kept the grass portion of the lot mowed last year. We set up on a paved portion at one end. This year there will also be a Tuesday afternoon market, which helps a lot during the height of the season when things need to be picked more often. And it doesn't hurt that the egg rules have been loosened up a bit. OK, that's my soliloquy for the week.