Morgan County-Decatur Farmers Market grand reopening a success
DECATUR, Ala. (WHNT) — The Morgan County-Decatur Farmers Market had its grand reopening on Monday.
The celebration comes one year after controversy over temporary locations nearly threatened its future.
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'We're here today with a beautiful building that people are going to be proud of for another one hundred years,' said Ray Long, Morgan County Commission Chairman.
It's a new beginning where the farmers market started on Second Avenue almost 45 years ago.
'We talk a lot about how every city does a quality of life, and this is certainly something that feeds into that,' said Decatur City Councilman Kyle Pike.
As part of the updates to the market, they have a brand-new facility with outdoor cooling and heating vents, which will make shopping there great year-round. Plus, they'll now have space for up to 25 vendors.
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After complaints and threats of a vendor walkout, the Farmers Market board changed course, keeping the market in the temporary space on Second Avenue until the new market was completed.
'Anytime you build a new market somewhere where people frequent, it can cause a lot of issues logistically,' Pike explained. 'This site was special to a lot of people, and they wanted it to be here, and we wanted to keep it here in downtown Decatur.'
Marilyn Champion of Champion Farms told News 19 that it's been a long road for her and her family. Her mother was the first vendor at the market in 1980.
'Glad to be here and see the old customers and making new customers and the support from the community,' Champion said. 'Thank you to everybody that anything to do with this new market going up. My mother would have really appreciated everything that was done.'
The grand reopening is the first day as a vendor for Veronica Robinson and Equally Yolked.org.
'I absolutely love being at the Decatur Morgan Farmers Market,' said Robinson. 'These folks are supporting local home-grown businesses and supporting the families behind those businesses.'
For more information about the Farmers Market, you can visit its website.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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