After this week in Mississippi I have been desperately seeking something positive to offset the legislature and the Governor’s collective decision on HB 1523.
Fortunately this was the week the Starkville Community Market kicked off its first day of operation for the season. At last a rainbow. For the next 6 months from 4 to 6 on Tuesday evenings we can look forward to an evening activity that isn’t the Board meeting.
The market has been one of those marvelous outcomes from a program that was designed to do precisely what it did: generate ideas for the community that turned into very real functioning projects. It succeeded beyond expectations.
It started with the “Leadership Starkville” program hosted by the Greater Starkville Development Partnership. One challenge of the program was for the participants (budding community leaders all) to propose projects that would benefit their city and/or county.
The year was 2006. The concept of a community market was the product of the collaboration between the ever creative and funny Jeremiah Dumas and the detail oriented and highly driven Tammy Tyndall (now Carlisle). Together they made a formidable team that gave Starkville something lasting and special.
Not to put too fine a point on it, but both of them have given noteworthy service to Starkville over the years since then. Jeremiah became the Alderman who was the founding father of our downtown form based codes and Tammy labors above and beyond as a city employee.
Neither of them probably knew that it would be a lasting change agent for the Starkville community. From this little acorn sprang such oaks as the brick and mortar businesses of DeRego’s Bread and The Biscuit Lady both located in our downtown.
I am guessing Tammy and Jeremiah wouldn’t have predicted it would impact the course of their own lives as much as it did let alone provide an avenue to establish new businesses.
We are all so much better for their efforts and the outcomes.
Though the market can now be found at Fire Station 1 park at Lampkin and Russell Street it got there in the style of the three bears. It started as a Saturday morning closing of Lafayette Street between Main Street and Lampkin. Though that was my personal favorite location the logistics were a bit complicated. Street closures and businesses impacted, etc. etc. That bed was too soft.
The next leapfrog move landed them at the corner of Lampkin and Jackson Street. That one was not very inviting. No shade and lots of hardscape and inconvenient loading and unloading logistics or so I heard. That bed was too hard.
It appears that we have it just right. The Main Fire Station park has the green space and parking nearby. It is big enough to allow for vendors to spread out and there is shade when we get to the hot summer months.
Over the years the vendors have morphed a bit but for the most part there has been a constant source of plants, vegetables, canned goods and baked items. One of criteria for the market is for the items to be home grown or made. The authenticity of having the market as a location to get locally grown or made items was one of the driving forces behind its existence.
That requirement hasn’t changed in the years since it was created. You can be guaranteed the sellers from whom you buy have been vetted by those in charge of approving the vendors. It is a trust not broken since its formation. Jennifer Prather with Greater Starkville Development Partnership is now the “go to” person for the operation of the market.
When the market is in full swing, there are the regulars who count on using the vendors for their weekly veggie fix. You are almost guaranteed to see them every Saturday from the beginning of May to the end of August.
It is a morning summer outing for dogs and their humans, for children and their parents. It serves as an opportunity to see your neighbor between 7:30 and 10:30 on a Saturday morning without having to go to Kroger. It is part of the fabric of our summer community.
Add to that the fact that the final season of American Idol will be won by an immensely talented Mississippi boy or girl and you have an opportunity to salvage an otherwise ghastly week of embarrassing national attention.
Alabama, you’re welcome.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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