As National Farmers Market Week begins this Sunday, the Chattanooga Market is doing more than just celebrating locally grown produce – it’s shining a light on the people and relationships that have helped it become a cornerstone of community life in the Scenic City.
From farms and food artisans to crafters, musicians and artists, the market brings together more than 200 vendors and thousands of visitors each week, making it the largest producer-only public market in the region and a vital economic engine for Chattanooga, writes journalist Barry Courter in a new article for the Chattanooga Market.
But the Chattanooga Market isn’t just a Sunday destination during the warmer months. For many of the people who help bring it to life, including longtime farmers Pam and Mike Hazelrig of Hazelrig Orchards in Cleveland, Alabama, it’s a year-round way of life.
Their work doesn’t pause between markets or during the offseason. As third-generation farmers, the Hazelrigs are constantly planting, picking and preparing the tomatoes, corn, peaches, cantaloupes, blueberries, cucumbers, apples, and other fruits and vegetables they sell. Yet for them, the work is about more than the harvest.
“This is perhaps my favorite thing to talk about the market,” Pam says in an interview with Courter. “We have vendors that we love like family and some have become part of our family.”
One of those people is Lannie Harte, a fellow vendor who sells daylilies.
“She’s loved Mike and me since we first met her,” Pam says. “She calls our boys her grandchildren and attended our son’s wedding a few weeks ago.”
That kind of connection is far from unusual at the market. Pam and Mike have attended memorials for fellow vendors’ spouses and have customers who check in on them if they ever miss a Sunday. They swap recipes, exchange holiday cards, and share life’s milestones with the people they see week after week under the pavilion at First Horizon Park.
The Hazelrigs have been a part of the Chattanooga Market since it first launched in 2002. Pam remembers the early days as being “very, very slow.” Nick Jessen, the market’s founder, often had to get creative to draw crowds, she says.
“He’d spread vendors out in the middle section of the building trying to make it look like there were more vendors than there actually were. The side aisles of the market were empty – and our kids would play in those areas.”
Jessen didn’t give up. Instead, he doubled down on promotional efforts, sometimes purchasing fruit from the Hazelrigs to give away at local events.
“I think it was the second season when Nick had someone install a climbing wall and brought in some people to do crafts with the kids,” Pam recalls.
His thinking was simple: If children had something to do, their parents would come and stay.
“Nick was very encouraging to us. We thought his vision for a great market would catch on in the Chattanooga area.”
In time, it did. The market grew slowly but steadily, and today it’s an institution in the city. Pam likens the experience of watching the market grow to raising children.
“We feel like it was our baby – and we got to be a part of something special,” she says. “Our goal was to provide the Chattanooga community with fresh fruits and vegetables.”
Over the years, the Hazelrigs have built deep and lasting relationships with their customers – many of whom have shopped at their booth for more than two decades.
“We’ve established 25-year relationships with people in the Chattanooga community,” Pam says. “They’ve watched our boys grow up. We’ve watched their children grow up. They’ve been with us through the loss of our parents and us with them. We have seen many of our customers lose a spouse.”
That spirit of continuity and care has continued under the leadership of Chris Thomas and Melissa Lail, who took over management of the market in 2008. Pam credits them with bringing a renewed sense of purpose and professionalism to the operation while still prioritizing the success of individual vendors.
“The Chattanooga Market has been a huge part of our heart. Under their leadership and direction, the market has thrived. Perhaps the thought of losing the market gave everyone a deeper appreciation of what we had.”
Today, there are few if any empty vendor spaces at the market. The event has grown beyond the pavilion and now spills outside and down surrounding streets.
“No more reading a book to pass the time,” Pam jokes.
Thanks in part to the visibility and consistency the market provides, the Hazelrigs’ business has expanded beyond Sundays. Many customers now drive to Cleveland, Alabama, during the week to purchase fresh produce directly from the farm. Other vendors use Hazelrig-grown fruits and vegetables as ingredients in their own products sold at the market.
“We have great relationships with the other vendors,” Pam says. “I think everyone wants to see everyone else be successful. The market has had a positive impact on our business.”
As National Farmers Market Week begins, the Chattanooga Market is taking time not only to celebrate local food and artistry but to honor the decades of dedication from families like the Hazelrigs. For them, and for many others who make their living at the market, it’s more than a weekly event – it’s a labor of love and a community that’s grown with them through every season.
Source: The Chattanooga Market