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Photo courtesy of Kelly Burley
The Mt Laurel Farmers’ Market features vendors with an assortment of fresh fruits and vegetables, baked goods and crafted items every Saturday from June through October.
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Photo courtesy of Kelly Burley
The Mt Laurel Farmers’ Market features vendors with an assortment of fresh fruits and vegetables, baked goods and crafted items every Saturday from June through October.
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Photo courtesy of Kelly Burley
The Mt Laurel Farmers’ Market features vendors with an assortment of fresh fruits and vegetables, baked goods and crafted items every Saturday from June through October.
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Photo courtesy of Kelly Burley
The Mt Laurel Farmers’ Market features vendors with an assortment of fresh fruits and vegetables, baked goods and crafted items every Saturday from June through October.
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Photo courtesy of Kelly Burley
The Mt Laurel Farmers’ Market features vendors with an assortment of fresh fruits and vegetables, baked goods and crafted items every Saturday from June through October.
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Phot courtesy of Kelly Burley
The Mt Laurel Farmers’ Market features vendors with an assortment of fresh fruits and vegetables, baked goods and crafted items every Saturday from June through October.
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Photo courtesy of Kelly Burley
The Mt Laurel Farmers’ Market features vendors with an assortment of fresh fruits and vegetables, baked goods and crafted items every Saturday from June through October.
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Photo courtesy of Kelly Burley
The Mt Laurel Farmers’ Market features vendors with an assortment of fresh fruits and vegetables, baked goods and crafted items every Saturday from June through October.
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Photo courtesy of Kelly Burley
The Mt Laurel Farmers’ Market features vendors with an assortment of fresh fruits and vegetables, baked goods and crafted items every Saturday from June through October.
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Photo courtesy of Kelly Burley
The Mt Laurel Farmers’ Market features vendors with an assortment of fresh fruits and vegetables, baked goods and crafted items every Saturday from June through October.
The Mt Laurel Farmers Market will celebrate its 25th season when it reopens this month, offering a vibrant mix of locally grown produce, handmade artisan goods and small-town charm every Saturday through the end of October.
Held from 8 a.m. to noon on Manning Place, the open-air market is known for its friendly, welcoming atmosphere and its deep roots in the community.
“We are a small, quaint market that is people and pet friendly,” said Kelly Burley, the market’s volunteer coordinator and owner of Main Street Florist.
What sets Mt Laurel’s market apart is its emphasis on local, handmade and homegrown.
“We are a craft and farmers market, so we do have some artisan goods. We do require that anyone who comes to set up, it’s either handmade or homegrown,” Burley said.
The market typically features vendors from across Shelby and Chilton counties, with an assortment of fresh fruits and vegetables, baked goods and crafted items. “We have sourdough bread people, we have flower people, I mean, candle story, you never know what’s going to show up,” she said.
The produce and the setting in Mt Laurel are a draw for the market, Burley said.
“Early we usually have strawberries… strawberries, peaches, blueberries, tomatoes, cucumbers, corn, watermelons, you name it. I mean, anything that can be grown in the South — green beans, rattlesnake beans, peas, purple hull peas, pink-eyed peas. That’s what one of the farmers is known for — pink-eyed peas,” Burley said.
Burley, who has been coordinating the market for 10 years, says it has grown in the last couple of years.
“That’s also due to the expansion of people moving to the Dunnavant Valley,” she said.
To get what you want, Burley recommends coming early.
“Our market starts at eight, and a lot of times, some of our people run out quickly — actually, out of the good stuff… like the peas, squash, bean, any kind of beans, anything that they don’t have a kind of quantity of. I mean, it always sells out first.”
This year’s market will commemorate a milestone anniversary — its 25th season.
“Community is at the heart of the event,” Burley said. “I think it brings them togetherness,” Burley said. “Especially the older people. They’ll all congregate and talk.”
Courtesy of Mt Laurel Farmers' Market
In addition to the vendors, food trucks and occasional live music add to the atmosphere.
“Occasionally we’ll have different food trucks, which is really popular, so we’ll have different waffle trucks or different things… Occasionally we’ll have some entertainment, music, but we don’t really have a budget.”
Nearby shops and eateries also stay open to accommodate guests. “It’s a really great place to come and visit and stay the day,” Burley said. “Parking is free. Of course, the market is free. Parking is free, entertainment is free.
The market is active on Facebook, where updates and vendor lineups are regularly posted.
“You can always come for all different kinds of food and yummy stuff,” Burley said. “We have a really good little, intimate, fabulous farmers market.”
