By Taylor Boyd
Star Brook Gardens, LLC, a Meadows of Dan area business, is scheduled to begin its After-Hours Farmers’ Market on Friday, May 1.
The event will run every Friday and Saturday from 3-7 p.m. from May until October.
Owner Joshua Dunn said he was inspired to start the event after moving to the area to be closer to his daughter.
“When I got out of the Marine Corps I went back to school for boating, and I had my boat business and stuff down there. When I moved up here, there’s not a lot of water, so I had to find something else to do,” he said.
When he started doing handyman work, Dunn said he’d ask people what they wanted to see in the area and what kinds of changes they wanted.
“A lot of them said that they miss the community piece, they miss getting together and buying local foods and not having to go to Wal-Mart, those kinds of things,” he said.
Noting that many small businesses in Floyd or Stuart weren’t able to set up at their farmers’ markets due to a lack of vendor spots or them being unable to compete with another business selling the same items, Dunn said he’s trying to give them a chance to get up and get started with his market.
“I did the after-hours thing because they can get from Floyd and Stuart and get to my market afterwards or people get off work on Fridays and want something to do they can come. It’s more like a thing to do on the weekends rather than a market where you have to wake up early to go to,” he said.
Dunn estimates he has about 23 vendors already signed up to set up during the event.
“It’s pretty well balanced. For instance, I’ve got a guy who’s coming with his car wash and he’s going to set up a booth. I’ve got baked goods, crafts, jewelry, handbags, there’s a lady that’s selling clothing, flint starters, eggs, and I’ve got Wood’s Produce selling beef and pork,” he said.
Once the weather gets warmer, Dunn hopes he’ll get more local produce vendors lined up to start selling their wares at his market. Applications are still open for interested vendors to secure a spot at the market. The vendor fee is $10 per day.
Dunn also plans to have food trucks available at the farmers’ market. Bootleg BBQ is scheduled to be onsite at the May 1 event.
“I kind of think one maybe two food trucks at a time would be plenty. That way there’s not a lot of competition, and they can sell out and make good money,” he said.
Dunn’s also trying to get live music performed at the event and is working to potentially have a wine garden.
“That’s still up in the air, I haven’t heard from the winery that I would like to use, so it might not happen at the first one,” he said.
In the future, Dunn plans to also hold other events at that space. “I want to start off small and see what people like and what draws people in like cornhole tournaments or farm tough man championships or something fun to get people out and about and bring people together,” Dunn said.
For more information, contact Dunn at (910) 358-0425 or go to Facebook.com/StarBrookGardens,LLC or www.starbrooksgarden.carrd.co.
