The Campus Farmers’ Market at NC State is trying to achieve its old goals while undergoing two changes: moving to a new location on Hillsborough Street and hosting its first-ever summer market.

The campus market was founded in 2009 when students saw the need for locally grown, healthy produce to be easily available on campus. After gaining approval from the university and creating connections with local farmers, the market held its first sale on the Brickyard in April of 2009. Since then, the campus market has become a regular Wednesday afternoon Brickyard event. 

The initial goal of the market was not only to provide healthy food options for students, but also to educate the student population about the privilege they have to eat tasty and healthy foods at an affordable price.

“The overarching initial goal of the campus market was to strengthen awareness among our student body for how fortunate our university community is to have such ready access to a wide variety of healthy foods at a reasonable price,” said Bob Patterson, a professor of crop science. 

Patterson’s students often volunteer in the campus market and then discuss with him their observations. From observing students’ reactions to the farmers market, the market appears to be meeting its initial goals. Patterson says students are always pleasantly surprised that they can buy healthy foods from local sources. 

The market now hopes to continue to achieve its goals while it operates on Hillsborough Street for the summer. 

The recent move to Hillsborough Street was a result of a newly created partnership between Live It Up! and the on-campus market. After hearing the request of the residents around Hillsborough Street for a farmer’s market, Live It Up!, an organization that aims to improve Hillsborough Street, reached out to the campus farmers market about moving to Hillsborough Street for the summer. This partnership allowed Live It Up! to provide a market to satisfy the residents of Hillsborough Street and allowed the campus farmers market to host its first ever summer market. 

The market is now held at 2306 Hillsborough St., between Jimmy John’s and the old Hot Box Pizza, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. every Wednesday through Aug. 19.

Because of the new situation, the market faced challenges its first week on Hillsborough Street. Most students who are familiar with the market are home for the summer, so it was almost like starting a new market. 

“The first week we only had five to 10 people come,” said Kyleigh Zelenak, summer manager of the market. “However, it can take seven to 10 years for a farmers’ market to become well-known, and it was our first week off the Brickyard.”

Since a brief stint four weeks ago at the Wells Fargo parking lot, the market has seen considerable growth. Last week, more than 50 customers came out to the market. These customers came from a variety of backgrounds, giving the market a more communal atmosphere than it had while on the Brickyard. 

“We had janitors, Hillsborough Street residents, faculty members and just moms with their kids come to the market,” Zelenak said. “This helped to create more of a community atmosphere.”

The arrival of new customers gives the market a new audience to educate about the benefits and privileges of healthy, affordable produce.

Zelenak hopes that having the market on Hillsborough Street for the summer will help people become regular customers of the market even when it returns to the Brickyard for the fall semester.