The farmer’s market is back for the 2024 season after a kick-off event on Saturday, May 3. The city of Covington’s Community Development department hosted its 2nd annual Ag Day on the Square, a day geared towards consumerism and education.

Ag Day gave the community a chance to shop with local farmers and vendors, offering a wide variety of goods from fruit and veggies to vegan skincare products and jewelry. 

However, according to the city of Covington’s special events coordinator, Olivia Kedzierski, Ag Day also serves as a learning opportunity.

“A typical farmer’s market is really just individuals selling vegetables, food, and baked goods,” Kedzierski said, emphasizing the opportunity for the community to engage with vendors. “This is providing an educational aspect,” 

The Newton County Rodeo, Farm Bureau of Newton, the Future Farmers of America from Newton, Eastside and Alcovy High Schools and Young Farmers of Newton County were among the groups providing educational and interactive booths.

Dr. Marcus Pollard is the advisor and teacher at Young Farmers of Newton County, a program that educates members about agriculture. He stressed the importance of agricultural education, referring to it as agricultural literacy.

“People need to know about where their food comes from and meet the people who are actually growing it,” Pollard said.

One of the growers Pollard referred to was Deer Creek Farm owner Merlon Harper. Harper’s Covington-based blueberry farm started participating in the farmer’s market last year. 

This year, she came to the kick-off event with her award-winning Blue Harvest Tea, along with spring vegetables she grows before the peak of blueberry season. Despite initial worries due to early morning rain, she was pleased with the turnout and the support she received from the community.

“The people are out, the community is supporting the vendors, especially the farmers. I’ve gotten a lot of support,” Harper said.

Harper expects this year’s blueberry crop to make up for the poor yield last year due to frost and she plans to continue participating in the farmer’s market throughout the season.

While local farmers, bakers, and other vendors lined the streets, bluegrass music by the Apostles of Bluegrass, a face painting booth, balloon twisting, and a petting zoo took over most of the inside of the square.

As the music played and faces were painted, kids and adults had a wide range of animals to pet and pose for pictures with. Organizers wanted to build on the success of the petting zoo in the fall, and this Saturday saw twice as many animals compared to the last event. 

Kedzierski called the petting zoo a “wild success.”

Now that Ag Day has kicked off the season, the farmer’s market continues weekly on Saturdays behind the Covington welcome center.