Pop-up market coming to Franklin Street

Soon students won’t have to leave Franklin Street for fresh fare straight from local farms.

On July 23, the Chapel Hill Farmers’ Market will be starting a pop-up farmers’ market every Thursday in the 140 West plaza.

“One of the farmers from the Chapel Hill Farmers’ Market had contacted me as well as representatives from the Town of Chapel Hill about the idea of possibly doing a farmers market downtown and wanted to meet and talk and see if there was any support or possibility,” Meg McGurk, executive director of the Chapel Hill Downtown, said. “The answer was, ‘Yes, absolutely.’”

McGurk said she had also heard lots of community members saying they wanted a farmers market downtown, especially with more residential buildings being built and more people living in that area.

“It was kind of a perfect storm of interest,” she said.

The Chapel Hill Farmers’ Market already takes place Tuesday afternoons and Saturday mornings at the University Place parking lot on Estes Drive.

Market manager Ali Rudel said the 12 vendors participating in the pop-up market will be a good representation of the Saturday market.

“In Chapel Hill, we have a huge population, especially downtown, of people who don’t have cars, who are walking, using the bus, biking but don’t have a grocery store that’s within walking distance necessarily,” she said.

“These are people who may not necessarily be coming to our Tuesday or Saturday markets already. It’s on the other side of town, so it’s providing an additional opportunity for these people.”

The hours are different as well — the pop-up market will take place during lunchtime, which Rudel expects will draw a different crowd of people who are taking a break from their weekday.

“I think the Saturday market and the Tuesday market has this really vibrant mix of folks that mostly live in the eastern part of Chapel Hill,” said Rickie White, co-owner of Waterdog Farms, one of the vendors.

“I’m imagining we’ll see a lot more grad students, a lot more retired folk who have moved into some of the condos and residents of nearby neighborhoods, including Northside.”

White also said the Chapel Hill Farmers’ Market has just begun to provide an electronic benefit transfer service, allowing people who receive welfare benefits to get tokens to purchase goods from the market.

The pop-up market will sell items like fruit, vegetables, meat, cheese, bread, baked goods, coffee and flowers.

Local businesses see the new addition as an advantage.

“It’ll be a big draw for us as far as more of the local crowd coming out to see us. Everybody likes the local produce,” said Jacob Coyne, general manager of Lime Fresh Mexican Grill’s 140 West location.

Coyne said some locals might tend to be skeptical of large corporations like Lime, so the opportunity to buy fresh produce and add a local twist to the menu will be advantageous.

Andrew McCorkle, service manager at Old Chicago Pizza and Taproom, said he is also excited about the new addition to the plaza. He said the restaurant plans to partner with the market to offer restaurant deals and discounts to people who attend.

“We think it’ll really help us out,” he said.

city@dailytarheel.com