MOULTRIE — The perceived value of being able to get “fresh produce” seems to be something that everyone in this community has in common, so the Downtown Moultrie Association believes the more places it’s available, the better the community is served.

The DMA, the City of Moultrie and the Healthy Colquitt Coalition hope to serve the community in this way by hosting a farmers market on the Square.

City of Moultrie Mainstreet Director Amy Johnson said that there was a market downtown between 15 and 20 years ago.

“Don’t know why it stopped. Did hear that it was successful. Don’t know why it stopped,” she said, shaking her head.

She said she has had several requests from individuals to start it back up again and it has been talked about within the DMA about a year ago.

“Now, with the formation of the Healthy Colquitt Coalition, now we think we have another organization to jump in and make this work. ... It does help that we have three great organizations working together,” she said.

The mission of the Healthy Colquitt Coalition is: “To create a healthier Colquitt County by promoting and providing increased opportunities for physical activity and improved nutrition for everyone in the environments where they live, work, play and learn,” said Angela Castellow, United Way of Colquitt County director.

“In an effort to promote improved nutrition the Healthy Colquitt Coalition is working with the City of Moultrie to promote a downtown farmers market. We hope this effort will make fresh fruits and vegetables readily available and continue to encourage healthy eating habits,”  she said.

 Johnson also said that the community’s support was needed to get the market going. She said they needed to know if the growers were willing to bring in their fruits and vegetables. Or if individuals who offered other food-stuff items like baked goods, herbs, salsas and barbecue sauces would be interested in selling their items at a market downtown.

“What we need right now is to see what kind of support we’re gonna get from the community,” she said.

She said the plans would be to have specific guidelines, which follow the Georgia Department of Agriculture policy, available for interested vendors to access online. The market would be held in the breezeway on the south side of the square, because it would provide shelter from rain and electrical outlets are available if needed, she said. The frequency of having the market would depend on the response from the community and could be either once a month or twice a month — possibly held on a weekday in the late afternoon or on a Saturday morning, Johnson said.

“We’re not gonna do any sort of arts and crafts. It’s strictly food,” she added.

She named off several items that could be sold including okra, tomatoes, lemons, figs, herbs, and honey.

“We have people right here in our community that produce things we don’t think about. The possibilities are endless with this really,” she said smiling.

She said about 1,200 people work downtown when the surrounding banks are included. She believes a downtown market would give them the opportunity to conveniently get fresh, locally produced vegetables. She also said that other area towns, and even cities nationwide, were hosting farmers markets, and she believes it’s because society as a whole is interested in eating fresh and healthy.

Johnson, also said that the market would be promoted correctly so that people would be drawn to the downtown area.

DMA member Carrie Viohl, owner of Studio Viohl, also said the market could be used to bring new people into downtown Moultrie. She said she believes that the community should embrace its small town atmosphere and use it to draw people in.

She said that when she lived in Germany she had gotten “so spoiled” being able to walk to a market and pick up fresh vegetables and baked goods.

“It was a sweet kind of life to live,” she said.

She said she would love to see the farmers market happen here because she would love to be able to live that way again. Right now, she has been going to the farmers market that is held in downtown Thomasville. She would love to be able to walk down to the breezeway on the square to shop, she said — and to see the market eventually grow to being held once a week.

“Food does taste better when it’s fresh,” she added emphatically.

Viohl said she found it ironic that she had heard that Colquitt County was the top producer of vegetables in the state.

“And we don’t eat the food grown here,” she said.

Extension Agent Scott Brown confirmed, when asked later, “We are the lead agricultural county in the state in terms of growers value, farm gate value and in diversity of crop production.”

“It looks like it would be just a beautiful fit between the largest vegetable producing county and a local farmers market,” said Glen Beard, extension agent.

However, he clarified, the operations that are growing the produce here are very large operations that sell through brokers. He believed that if they did participate in a downtown market it would be as a community-minded project and not to make money.

He said it would be a farmer who has maybe only a couple of acres that a farmers market might be a good fit for.

“We have just about everything you could possibly want,” he said.

It would be just the matter of getting the vendors to pack it up and bring it in to downtown to sell, and he said he would be very interested to see what happened. He said he, too, has heard people talking about wanting to have a farmers market with local produce.

“You never know but it would be worth a try,” he said.

Johnson said that if they got feedback from the community quickly, then they might look at trying to kick it off the end of June or the beginning of July.

“We really need to find out from the folks who will sell,” she said.

Anyone interested in participating, can contact her at the Main Street office at 229-890-5455 or send her an e-mail at amy.johnson@moultriega.com.