- [Narrator] This is a production of PBS Charlotte.

(light guitar music) Fresh Vegetables, flowers, meats, fruits and honey are just a few of the things you'll find at area farmer's markets.

- I've been coming to the Charlotte Market for almost eight years and I come every Saturday morning.

- [Narrator] It's a unique shopping experience, one that predates the modern grocery store and hearkens back to an easier time.

Coming up, meet a family keeping the doors open and produce flowing at Charlotte's oldest farmer's market.

Then meet a Union County farmer plowing the very same fields his ancestors have for more than two centuries.

Visit the area's largest market that features well over 150 vendors and learn how the Rosa Parks Farmer's Market strives to decrease food insecurity.

All that and more coming your way on this episode of Trail of History.

(upbeat music) (upbeat guitar music) Ah, the Farmer's Market, a cornucopia of produce, meats, dairy, flowers, baked goods, and more, all up for sale.

For many, a trip here is a longstanding weekend tradition.

Well, for others it's an occasional novelty, but just about everyone probably isn't thinking that their trip to the farmer's market comes with a side of over 5,000 years of human history.

- People used to barter with farmers.

I'll give you wool if you'll give me some wheat.

I'll give you collard if you can give me some fruits and vegetables.

Farmers have always been sharing what they grow forever.

- [Narrator] Some of the earliest markets started in ancient Egypt, but for something a bit more relatable, the oldest known market still operating in the United States got it started in colonial Pennsylvania almost 300 years ago, 1730 to be exact.

The Lancaster, Pennsylvania Central Market, according to their website, started out on 120 square foot plot of land.

In case you're wondering, 120 square feet is pretty small.

About the size of a small bedroom.

Here in Charlotte, the oldest farmer's market, while certainly not 300 years old, is tucked away on the Carolina Medical Center campus.

- A lot of people at the hospital describe it as a house, but I think it looks more like a market.

I feel like it's a little hidden gem in Dilworth.

- [Narrator] Welcome to the Mecklenburg County Market.

- We are on Atrium's Plaza.

- [Narrator] Meet owner in Dale McLaughlin.

- We've been here approximately 92 to 93 years and we consider, as we are the oldest one in North Carolina.

- [Narrator] And his daughter Beverly.

- We have survived pretty much on word of mouth all these years and a lot of our customers are the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of the original grandparents, shopping here at the market when they were little.

- [Narrator] Customers like a Kathy Ewing.

- I'm a native (indistinct) and my father was a doctor at Presby and Old Memorial.

So I would come down here probably since I've been about five years of age and I've come here to get all my fresh vegetables because they really are truly local, fresh vegetables.

- We're buying from all local farmers all over North Carolina, South Carolina, and some farmers I've been buying from for 40 years.

- The peaches come from South Carolina.

Cucumbers, peppers, watermelons, canello, (indistinct) farm, lettuces.

Our local, we get our peas from South Carolina and we shell them here in the market so they're shelled locally 'cause it doesn't get any more local than that.

- Here we are known for our tomatoes and local tomatoes, and even we'll have local tomatoes until November.

- [Narrator] McLaughlin's grandson, Gavin Guiney knows all about the markets top selling items.

- The most popular tomatoes that customers buy are the Cherokee Purples right here.

They're a heirloom tomato and I just mean it's a really old seed, like old variety of tomato, the beef steaks or better boys.

There's a few different names for the red tomatoes.

They've got like that classic tomato taste that bite to them.

They're my personal favorite.

- [Narrator] The nearly century old market hasn't always been family owned.

- It was founded by the Mecklenburg County Ladies Home Extension Club in the early 1930s and only women could sell here.

- The market originally started on seventh Street, was in a basement of a building, and in the early thirties, 31 to 32, they purchased this building.

- Back then we had roughly 40 vendors and each vendor had four feet of space.

- My grandmother was original member of this market, and a few years later, probably four or five, my mother started coming.

I remember standing on a chair up front right beside her when she was selling her product.

- [Narrator] Over the years, getting ready for the market has always been a family affair.

- We had a 40 acre farm and my grandfather, grandmother and my mom and dad did the farming, but my father was full-time employed with the telephone company, so in the evenings he would plow the fields, pick the vegetables, getting ready for the farmer's market.

- [Narrator] Eventually the family sold off the farm and Beverly then started her own prepared foods business called Beverly's Gourmet, which she also sells at the market, but now the next generation is stepping up like her son Gavin.

- I've been working here since I was about 12 or 13.

- Gavin and his brother, who also works here, make it five generations of the family to be here at the market.

- I love it.

I never really planned to for this to be my career.

It just kind of happened.

- [Narrator] According to his mom, Gavin's interest in the market does more than just add to the bottom line.

- I love that he's here with my dad on a daily basis and I think that's one of the reasons my dad hasn't officially retired yet.

It's because he gets to work with his family.

- [Narrator] Customers feel much the same way about the Mecklenburg County Market.

- For me, it's just the heritage and the history and the memories of coming in here and supporting local.

I think you get a good feeling when you come through here and you're supporting something and it's been, McLaughlin's been doing this for generations.

I mean, he's watched me grow up, so it's a special spot.

- [Dale] I enjoy what I'm doing.

I wouldn't be doing it as long as I have.

- I would say our legacy is that we have prevailed all these years.

We've made it through the depressions, we made it through the pandemic when so many places were going out of business and the fact that we just wanna keep it going with local products.

I don't take people's products.

I get samples all the time from Maine and Wisconsin and I can't use them because they're not local.

- I hope it will continue the family tradition for many more years than it has in the past.

- [Narrator] As you might imagine, there's a key element to a successful farmer's market and that key, of course is the farmer, because without those farmers there is no market.

And on a hot summer day, the ground dry and dusty farmer Gene Moore is hard at work.

- Well, we're on the farm and eastern end of Union County.

A lot of the farm has been in our family since King's Land Grant back, I believe around the 1760s.

- [Narrator] And through the centuries, the Moore farm has been used in a variety of ways.

- We've done a little bit of everything on the farm, from timber to animal and livestock, row crops, and now specializing more in produce and direct marketing to the consumer.

- [Narrator] On this day, he's planting turnip greens for the fall crop, but more cultivates a large variety here at the family farm.

- We have squash, cucumbers, okra, corn, tomatoes, peas, green beans.

Then in the fall we'll end up with collard, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, a wide variety of a lot of different things.

- [Narrator] Over his many years of tilling the land and harvesting the reward, Moore has honed in on the sweet spot for an operation his size.

- We do wholesale in retail.

Smaller scale is almost all retail, usually one to five acres.

Most of your pure wholesalers are hundreds of acres.

We fall in the middle, somewhere in the middle, around 30, 40 acres of produce.

- [Narrator] The work never seems to be done on a farm probably because it never really is.

- Typical day is up slightly before sunrise in the main season, be tilling the land, planting, harvesting, preparing for the next season, always thinking ahead.

Farmers have to be basically scientist, weathermen, general labor, we have to be a jack of all trades and we have to know, have a working knowledge of all of it.

The tractor I'm sitting on now is one of the newest tractors we've got on our farm, and it was built in the seventies.

With produce, most of this equipment is smaller equipment I would like to get some newer equipment in and there are some more modern techniques, but the smaller the farmer is, the the usually the smaller and older his equipment is.

It's a lot of long hours, hard work.

- [Narrator] As a farmer.

Moore certainly knows that techniques and farming methods evolve.

- And I like to tell people how we grow ours, which is consider sustainable, which means we do organics, some organics, we do some conventional.

We scout and don't use insecticides or fungicides or anything like that unless we have a problem and have to do it.

- [Narrator] Across the country, large industrial scale farms produce most of the produce we find at the grocery stores, but for a smaller operation like Moore's-- - Farmer's Market is the great great place for us and as our size operation.

So we do market here in Union County.

At the Union County market.

We also, I do primarily at the regional market in Charlotte.

That is cause of a larger number of people to where I can move more product.

- [Narrator] He says farmers are the ones who have a vested interest in the markets.

- Most of the markets have an application, some of them that are growers only or growers mar based market.

Make sure that you are a grower.

There's an application process and then there's a usually a yearly, weekly or monthly fee to be able to sale.

- [Narrator] And each market has coveted spots.

- There are some spots that are better than others, most of the market.

But the big thing is, even if you don't have a prime spot, put on a prime show and you will draw the customers to you.

We have done, we have started out in an not so good spot in a spot nobody wanted.

Drew the customers and then slowly moved into the better spots.

- But there's more to it than just having the right spot.

There's also presentation.

- You have to be a Chauvin, in my opinion, the more you've got, the higher higher you can stack it and still make it look good and presentable.

You want it to be eye-catching and you don't want it to look like you're running out.

- [Narrator] Moore has some advice for customers.

- When you go to the market primarily you want to try to get to know your vendor, get to know a little bit about them, where they are, what they grow themselves, where they're from.

I love interacting with the customers.

I love to educate the customers, let them know how things are grown, let them know that it is not produced at a factory.

Everything is interconnected with agriculture in one way or another.

All of us are dependent upon agriculture.

Without it, we wouldn't have anything to wear.

We wouldn't have anything to eat.

- [Narrator] And the payoff for Gene is more than financial.

- I enjoy providing for other people.

I enjoy the interaction with other people.

Farming is a great way of life, but not a great way to make a living.

And the way of life, the way of life is what really matters to me.

And I guess it just makes me feel good to know that I'm providing four other people.

(country music) - [Narrator] Saturday morning on York Mont Road in Charlotte and you'll find a steady stream of cars turning into the Charlotte Regional Farmer's Market.

- I've been coming to the Charlotte market for almost eight years and I come every Saturday morning.

- And Jenny Hong knows her markets.

- There's lots of different kinds of farmers' markets.

So you do have like farmer's markets that are very local and then just have a few farms that get together and put up a stand right.

- [Narrator] According to market manager Amie Newsome, farmer's markets offer a certain vibe that you just won't find in the grocery store.

- Here you've got people standing and talking with members of the community, with their friends.

You've got people that actually make it a date, which is so precious.

And then you've got the people that wanna know more about where their food comes from.

And so it's an educational experience, it's a community experience.

It's a family fun time where kids can come out and they can taste strawberries or a taste of peach and you don't get those experiences when you go to the grocery store.

- [Narrator] First opened in 1984, right around a half million people annually come to the market looking for fresh vegetables, grass-fed meats and other artisan treats.

- Charlotte Regional Farmer's Market is one of four state-run farmers markets run by the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

Our goal was to create a place where farmers can come and unload their items to sell to the general public, where you can find fresh fruits and vegetables, meat, and where you can actually talk to the farmer and find out how they're actually growing and raising their animals.

You can talk with beekeepers about and find all the interesting facts there are to know about honey.

- [Narrator] Now vending at the farmer's market market comes with some stipulations.

- For instance, if you are selling anything with dairy in it, you need to have a dairy license.

If you're selling fruits and vegetables, you need to have a certified scale.

If you are selling baked goods, you need to have certification with food and drug.

So even the people that are selling fish, they have all requirements that they have to meet before they can come in.

- [Narrator] Newsome adds, North Carolina vendors pay between 15 and $25 a day for their space.

Out-of-state folks pay just a bit more and there are about 180 vendors like Farmer Jason Parker, the owner of Berry Fields.

- I like being able to bring people fresh fruits and vegetables.

It's better than going to the grocery store.

It's local, you know where it's at.

You know what it's got on it.

We have a variety of different things from tomatoes that's washed to cucumbers, to cherry tomatoes down in zucchini in the spring.

We do a bunch of fresh plants and herbs.

We can get tomato plants, all your vegetable plants and every type of herb you can think of.

(gentle music) - [Narrator] In operation for nearly four decades, the Charlotte Regional Farmer's Market and the three other state-owned markets are economic tools used by the North Carolina State Department of Agriculture.

- We need farmers markets because we have a lot of people that are utilizing the land to produce goods that people need.

Fruits, vegetables, we've got livestock growers, you've got the nursery operations that give you the wonderful flowers and the trees that can provide shade during the hot summers here in North Carolina.

So we need farmer's markets as a way to sustain that way of life.

- [Narrator] She adds part of the market's mission means more than just offering farm fresh vegetables and meats.

- At the Department of Agriculture, our goal is to promote anything that's grown, race, caught or made.

- [Narrator] This model opens the doors to vendors like the folks from Dukes Bread Company.

- Dukes Bread basically is a sourdough based bread.

We use a 200-year-old starter.

- [Narrator] For more than a decade, Arthur Duke has been working the stand here at the market with a long list of items for sale.

- We have a roasted garlic focaccia, we have a rosemary, a Asiago focaccia, we have a Gorgan Zola cheese bread, a Monterey jack cheese and cracked pepper, jalapeno and cheddar cheese loaf.

- [Narrator] But he's quick to give credit where credit is due and he's one proud father.

- My son started the business in 2010 in his garage with three kitchen rangers.

- Dukes Bread Company is an example of how farmer's markets provide a cost effective way for vendors to find a market.

And it's paid off for this local company.

- It's too hard to try to put it in all the stores because first of all, most of the stores, they're full.

They have 20 other breads, you know, and they don't want to add another bread.

And then you're talking about smaller quantities.

Here we can concentrate on this specific market.

We can sell our specific bread with a less competition with other bread makers.

- At the Hawley's Harvest booth, Kecia Drake says, direct access and personal interactions are the main benefits of vending, their olive oils at the market.

- We found that because you can do taste tests at the farmer's market and it is best when people taste before they purchase.

And it's just the environment of being around other people and when they're coming through and just intermingling with networking with people.

- [Narrator] But the best part for both vendors-- - Seeing how happy people are when they walk through, and then when they stop at the table, their expressions change when they taste our products.

- My favorite part, it's the contact with the customers.

They're here because they want quality products and they find them here at the market.

(gentle music) - [Narrator] Reasons to shop at a farmer's market vary from person to person.

Jenny Hong has her reasons.

- You have like the different buildings are different things.

So if you wanna find just local North Carolina goods and within like local, I mean like 150 miles, right?

So those will be in the first building and if you want, you know, organic spoons and stuff, it's all over there.

And you go often enough, you get to meet people and you get to make friends and they know you because you go on every week to pick up produce, you get to know your food better.

You can try new things too.

It's really fun.

- [Narrator] For many people like Melissa Solar, a mother of two, A Saturday trip to the market is personal.

- Oh my gosh, like, this is everything to me.

I'm from Jersey, so coming here, like, I didn't even know what a Blackberry actually tasted like until I came to North Carolina and in at the farmer's market, it's just the flavor just doesn't compare.

- Solar says her kids learn valuable life lessons with each and every trip to the market.

- I don't think we put as much stock in understanding where our food comes from, right?

Like, so a lot of the, we get some of our meat from here obviously our produce as well, and we have a personal relationship with them.

And the kids ask questions like, okay, well what is this?

Oh, these are the pigs.

This is where our hot dogs are coming from.

Or you know, for our hamburgers, these are where the cows are coming from.

So they understand it's not just a package in a grocery store, there's actually a person on the other side, an animal that it's coming from and how it's getting to us.

- [Narrator] As a busy mom with two children, you might ask, why not just go to the grocery store?

- Honestly, I think there is something too convenience and I will not disregard that.

I'm obviously a mom of two.

I work full-time as well, so there's definitely something to it.

But the appreciation that these kids have, like, oh these are the peaches from farmer Gene, or these are the farmer Aaron gave us this meat for our hamburgers.

Isn't it so good?

He's super cool.

He has a dog and like the stories behind it, there's just a little bit more, I don't know, heart I guess to it versus the detachment of just getting it from the grocery store, which is fantastic for me.

- [Narrator] With nearly 40 years of operation, Newsome wants people to reflect on its success, but also the shared success of all farmers' markets.

- I want all of our vendors to be successful.

Even the ones that don't come to our market.

There's 22 different markets in the Charlotte area and the market managers of those all get together and we try and help each other out because our main goal is just to have our vendors be successful.

That's what we love.

- [Narrator] Since the first market thousands of years ago, the purpose of connecting the producer to the consumer hasn't really changed much.

But in Charlotte, one local nonprofit has re-imagined how a farmer's market can have a lasting impact on a community.

Welcome to the Rosa Parks Farmer's Market.

Ebone Lockett serves as the market's president and board chair.

- The Rosa Parks Farmer's Market was established in 2016 by community members, Vivian Stewart, Reggie Singleton, Bernice Smith, and Maggie Davis.

And they went to the Mecklenburg County Public Health Department and said, we have a severe problem in the west end of our neighborhood.

And that problem was not only about food security and food insecurity, but it was also about there's the cultural erasure of the west end.

And they wanted to be intentional about bringing a market that not only provided healthy and fresh foods in that area, they also wanted to bring and maintain the culture of the community and those who live there.

- [Narrator] As a former teacher, she's seen firsthand the impact a poor diet has on students.

- I would see kids come in sluggish.

Either they didn't have breakfast or they had Takis or something else for breakfast.

A poor nutritional intake.

And we have to change that if we think we're gonna have social, great social outcomes.

If we're gonna have, you know, academic outcomes that are beneficial, we have to think about what our children are consuming.

- There is great deals of inequality and Rosa Parks Farmer's Market address some of that.

This is the only black-led black-benefiting farmer's market in the Charlotte area.

And it's imperative that this market remains sustainably.

- [Narrator] The market season runs mid-June through mid-September at two locations.

- On Tuesdays, 3 to 7:00 PM at the West complex.

And on Saturdays we're at the Dr. Aila Garment Brown Center on Freedom Drive.

- [Narrator] Vendors like Mike Richardson selling microgreens.

- I was actually researching local farmer's markets in Charlotte and telling you the truth, a lot of them are very difficult to get into.

But once I saw the Rosa of Parks Farmers Market and I did some research on it and what it was about, I was even more interested at that point.

I didn't care if what was being sold at all.

I just really wanted to be a part of it.

- [Narrator] The market also provides lessons in economics and entrepreneurship for the young men from a Males Place.

- The Males Place is a multi-generational manhood training organization for African-American boys 12 to 18.

We focus primarily on mentorship, secondarily agriculture, and then third, community service.

- [Narrator] First, the young men learn how to grow crops.

Here at this community garden.

- The Males Place organization, we focus heavily on agriculture and it's important that they be able to see the whole process, not just the production, but being able to put together a nice package, packaging the items, understanding the importance of customer service.

It's important that they learn all those aspects to be entrepreneurs, to be apprentice, to be businessman.

They get the opportunity to see it all come full circle here.

- Well, they have been a treasure.

So I've had the pleasure through education of meeting Reggie before and working with his young one.

But to know that you go down the street, you till it, you grow it, and then you come and you sell it to feed your community.

I mean there's not a greater joy than that.

So the Males Place is doing amazing work and I'm glad to have them along with others as vendors at the market.

- The Rosa Parks Farmer's Market is just not merely a transactional market.

We're not here to merely make money.

Obviously we need to generate revenue so we can remain sustainable, but we're transformative.

We provide the level of education around sovereignty and self-determination and self-sufficiency that other markets don't provide or is not interested in.

And so it's important that, that community remembers themselves, but even those that are outside of the community support this market because it's imperative that this market remains viable, that it remains sustainable.

- [Narrator] And as the market continues its mission, Lockett says.

- Feeds more than just the appetite.

It feeds the soul, it truly feeds the soul.

(gentle music) - It's evident the various farmers markets around our region provide much more than a place for farmers to sell their crops or to the customers to simply shop for groceries.

From the oldest local market to the farmers still growing the fresh crops to the markets focused on making a social impact in its community.

These markets keep alive 5,000 years of tradition feeding the need not only for nutrition, but also for economics, community and connection.

We thank you for watching this episode of Trail of History.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music) A production of PBS Charlotte.