Just in time for National Farmers Market Week, the Downtown Blackville Farmers Market has gone from being an afternoon entity to a morning person.

Starting July 31, the county farmers market switched from its Friday afternoon hours to Friday mornings.

Blame the very sun that causes the plants to grow for causing the switch.

"It was getting too hot," said Jeanne Johnson, the farmers market manager. "Some (vendors) had dropped out because of the heat but I hope they will be back."

The market will now be open Fridays from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

National Farmers Market Week is from Aug. 2 to Aug. 8.

"I didn't know there was a National Farmers Market Week. It was brought to my attention by Fred Broughton. He works with farmers and farmers markets," Johnson said.

Broughton is with the S.C. Department of Agriculture.

Johnson was aware that August is "Farmers Market Month" in South Carolina, she said.

Johnson hopes the morning hours will entice more customers to the open-air market on the corner of Lartigue and Main Streets in downtown Blackville before the humidity becomes too stifling, she said.

Also, Johnson hopes to catch more of the morning errand runners that have not been at the market before, she said.
Johnson said the crowd has been off this summer.

From studies and reports on farmers markets she has seen, six vendors should generate about 100 customers, she said.

"On our good days, we've had half of that," Johnson said.

"But of the 95 percent of the people that do come to the market - they buy something," she said. "I hope in August and September, we will build up a customer base."

The market has had between six and eight regular vendors this season, she said.

Although the Downtown Blackville Farmers Market started last year as part of an economic and community building endeavor by the Clemson University Extension Service, Johnson considers this part of its first year, she said.

"We are laying the foundation for a thriving market," Johnson said.

There are two paving stones in that foundation that the market recently laid.

The Downtown Blackville Farmers Market now takes EBT cards and participates in the WIC program, Johnson said.

"When I talked to the other farmers markets in the state, things picked up once they took it. In some places, it tripled their customer base," she said.

EBT is like a bank debit card that electronically deducts purchases from the account of a recipient in this federal program. Where recipients used to receive food stamp vouchers, now the money is credited to their account and subtracted each time they use their EBT card.

The food stamp program is now called SNAP, or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, for eligible underprivileged people to buy nutritious food to augument their diets.

The WIC (Women, Infants and Children) program is another federal program to allow mothers and their children access to nutritious food.

WIC recipients are allowed only one distribution of funds to use at farmers markets, Johnson said.

"They started the new program for WIC recipients where they are given monthly vouchers for fruits and vegetables. They can spend that at the grocery store or farmers markets," she said. "It's to their advantage for women to spend that at farmers markets because she can't haggle at a grocery store. There's not a lot of room for negotiation."

To bolster more vendor participation, Johnson will have a drawing later in the season.

"One thing I'm doing for my loyal vendors is that each time they participate in the market, their name is added to a drawing," she said. "The market wants to show our appreciation for our vendors."

The Blackville market is open to any growers within a 50-mile radius. Already the market has gone through its green bean season. The market has the state designation of being a "Certified S.C. grown" vending station, she said.

The market will be open through September, although Johnson is not certain when the market's last day will be.

"It's kind of trial and error. We have to see what farmers are available," she said.