The Nocatee community hosts a farmers market each month, and it has been embraced as quite the tradition, and now an inaugural Nocatee Kids’ Farmers Market is scheduled for Sept. 23.
The kids’ farmer market will be in addition to the regular monthly market, but as the name implies the vendors will be children ages 10 to 17 years old.
It is a unique concept that Nocatee community events manager Hannah Davis came up with as she oversees the vendor relations and operations of the Nocatee Farmers Market.
“Believe it or not, when receiving the applications, I always get a lot from children wanting to be a part of it, so I thought about it and it just really seemed like the opportunity was there,” Davis said.
According to Davis, it was obvious that the passion to be involved in something like this existed, and she viewed a community event like a farmers market to be a perfect place to feed that passion.
“I wanted to encourage these kids to pursue their desires and really give them an outlet to do just that,” Davis said.
The next step was organizing an event and Davis decided that the kids’ farmers market deserved its own recognition and spot on the events calendar.
That decision has been backed up with a great reception early on from children who not only are regulars at the Nocatee Farmers Market, but there has also been interest from children in the community that have not sent applications in the past.
“It’s been really well received here in the early going,” Davis said. “We’re going through the applications right now, and it’s just amazing to see all that the kids in the Nocatee community are a part of.”
Although the excitement seems to be building around the event, it still is the inaugural event, which means that there is a wait-and-see approach heading into such an event.
“We definitely know there’s a place for an event like this, but we’re just not sure if it will end up being once a year or quarterly,” Davis said. “It’s just one of those things where you don’t know for sure until it all comes together, and you see how many vendors you have signup and what those numbers are like.”
As is the case with farmers markets the Nocatee community hosts, the kids’ farmers market will take place at Nocatee Station Field from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and is open to the public to attend.
Unlike the usual monthly farmers market held, the children applying to be vendors at the market will not need to have a business license.
However, the only requirements are that the participants must be 10 to 17 years old, and the products sold at their booths must be made by them and not by an outside source.
“The kids are the true entrepreneurs at an event like this,” Davis said. “This is their time to showcase their talents.”
