T’wood considers market

Published 12:00 am Monday, September 30, 2013

First, it was the Clemmons Community Garden. Now, it’s time for the Farmers Market at Tanglewood.
During Monday night’s Village Council meeting, planner Megan Ledbetter told the board that is the next step in getting the community involved in locally grown produce.
“The Farmers Market concept has been bantered around with Tanglewood as a partnership with the Village for quite some time,” Ledbetter said. “Now the Dog Park is open and operating, the Parks and Recreation director for the county is ready to move forward with that project.”
Initially, that would include setting up tents adjacent to the dog park for the farmers market. An organizational meeting is scheduled with the Cooperative Extension later this month, and Tanglewood is asking that the Village advertise for volunteers to help coordinate the project. Ledbetter and a staff member from Tanglewood would serve as the liaisons.
“The Village did put $1,500 in the 2013-14 budget to help with advertising, which is something Tanglewood requested,” Ledbetter said. “Long term, Mike (Anderson, the Parks and Recreation director) has some great ideas if they can raise the funds.”
The park will take care of the other physical and logistical details involving the project.
Just a couple of years ago, Ledbetter introduced the concept of adding a Community Garden and/or Farmers Market in Clemmons.
The Community Garden got its start behind Village Hall in 2012 with overwhelming support. All the plots were rented, and a bountiful crop benefited those participants along with the local food pantry.
“We now have a waiting list,” Ledbetter said of those wanting to rent a space in the garden. “That was first, and now this.”
In other business, Gary Looper, town manager, said that the Friends of the Clemmons Library group has started the process of determining the facility needs for the proposed new Clemmons library.
Looper said that he had spoken with county officials, who said they would support attending a meeting in January.
“Those meetings will be proposed …