The Gama Goat building at Camp North End.
By Jennifer Thomas Senior Staff Writer, Charlotte Business Journal
The North End Farmers Market is sticking around through the end of the year.
Camp North End has reached an agreement with Farmers Market Management Services for that market to continue through Dec. 22; it was originally slated to conclude at the end of October.
The current lineup includes 15 anchor vendors and 21 rotating vendors, with local farmers, ranchers, food artisans and crafters represented.
Additions for the holiday season include rotating options such as a petting zoo, chef demos and a jewelry-making class.
The extension was driven by demand from Camp North End’s tenants, visitors and neighbors, says Tommy Mann, development director for that sprawling, adaptive-reuse project.
“I think that says a lot about the need for fresh, local food in the North End,” Mann says. Our goal is to eventually be able to sustain a year-round farmers market.”
This was the first year for the market.
“The genesis of the market was our neighbors asking if we could help them with access to fresh local food,” Mann says. “It’s for our North End neighbors, but it also helps bring foot traffic to our other small businesses at Camp North End.”
The market has dispersed nearly $12,000 in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — or SNAP— benefits, including Double Bucks funds. That program, which doubles the value of SNAP spending when used for fresh fruits and vegetables, is funded by Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina and Mecklenburg County Public Health.
“Farmers Markets serve as neighborhood hubs and create social connections between shoppers and their community and the farmers they buy from,” says Abby Wyatt, health policy coordinator for Mecklenburg County Public Health.
North End Farmers Market operates every Wednesday from 4p.m. until 8 p.m. It is at Keswick Avenue, between Camp North End’s Mount and Keswick districts off the Graham Street entrance.
ATCO Properties & Management and its joint venture partner, Shorenstein, are behind Camp North End.
Over 300,000 square feet of space of that mixed-used project has been redeveloped for office, dining, hospitality and entertainment. A second phase of that project will add 120,000 square feet of Class A office space and up to 20,000 square feet of retail.
“We’re in active conversations with lots of really great, exciting Phase 2 prospects. That’s a result of the success our Phase 1 tenants have enjoyed,” Mann says.