By Billy Davis

The Panola Farmers Market last week swelled to 41 vendors who were selling everything from okra to homemade fudge.

The tally of vendors, announced by Batesville Main Street, marked the largest participation since the weekly market kicked off June 30.

Twenty-five vendors showed up for the first-ever market, which is held on the Downtown Square in Batesville on Wednesday afternoons.

“It’s slowed down a little but it’s going great,” said Steve Richardson, who sends produce each week from his vegetable farm in Tate County.

Other vendors, when they talk among themselves, have noted a slowdown in customers, too, said Karen Ott Mayer of Como. She oversees the Hernando Farmers Market, where she picked up news about Panola.

“Quite a few say they’re not as busy,” she said. “But I’m hearing that, overall, it’s going good.”

Even if customer traffic has slowed down, more vendors are still coming.

Last Wednesday, vendors were filling up the chalk-marked spaces on the west side of the little street, beneath the dappled shade, before two o’clock. The newest vendors weren’t so lucky: they set up tables and chairs on the east side of the street where there was sunshine and no shade, dappled or otherwise.  

It wasn’t a good day to be in the sun: one vendor told a reporter the temperature was 97 degrees on the Square.

Main Street manager Colleen Clark said the Panola Farmers Market might add a morning market next year if a second day is added.

“The heat has been the main complaint,” she said.

“It’s pretty hot right now so people are asking about having it in the morning,” reported vendor Lacy Capwell. “But most are done in the afternoons.”

Capwell said she travels to farmers markets in North Mississippi and out of state, and has done so since she was a child. The Panola Farmers Market is doing well, she said.

“I think it’s great for Batesville,” she said.  

Batesville’s first-ever farmers market is following neighboring markets held in Hernando, Oxford, Senatobia, Taylor and Water Valley.

Clark said vendors are participating from Panola, Tate, DeSoto, Lafayette, Coahoma and Quitman and Yalobusha counties.  

The Panola Farmers Market is seeking volunteers to help with the weekly event, Clark also said.

 Call 563-3126.