Clinton Farmers Market ends, eyes 2026 return
Maggie Garafolo, co-creator of the new Clinton Farmers Market, checks out a flower vendor during last Saturday’s final market event of the year in Jaycee Park. (photo:G. Chambers Williams III )
Saturday’s market was a surprise, as the most-recent market day, Sept. 27, had been announced as the last one for the year.
“We had some vendors who wanted to do one more, so we came back for this one,” said Maggie Garafolo, who co-founded the market in May with her now-husband, Matthew Garafolo.
The markets have been held in three different locations this year, and no more than twice a month.
The couple, who run a sheep farm in Clinton, were married earlier this month, Maggie Garafolo said.
“We’re thinking about trying to have it every week next year,” she said.
They held the inaugural 2025 market at Jaycee Park next to the Anderson County Fairgrounds on May 24, and concluded the season in the same spot last weekend.
But they also held the market once in the new Clinton city parking lot on North Main Street at North Hicks Street, and once under the Green Bridge on Riverside Drive.
“We definitely want to be back next year, but we’re hoping to find a better location where we’ll be more visible,” Magge Garafolo said at the market on Saturday afternoon.
The Jaycee Park location is a block off the main highway (Charles G. Seivers Boulevard), and isn’t visible to passing traffic.
Garafolo said she and her husband would like to try the fairgrounds area where the indoor pavilion is, but would need to get permission from the Anderson County Fair Board, which controls that property.
They also have been considering holding a few indoor winter market sessions at the Clinton Community Center, but have not worked that out with the city yet.
Vendors in the recent markets have offered locally raised pork, beef and lamb; fresh baked goods and sweets; embroidered shirts and other non-food goods; handcrafted art; locally made hot sauces and spices; tallow products, and more.
At least 14 vendors and a steady stream of customers turned out on Sept. 11, for the first market session of the month, held for the first time under the Green Bridge.
Because of construction that shut down part of Main Street, that session was moved to Riverside Drive, rather than going back to the new city parking lot on North Main Street at North Hicks Street, where it was held in early August.
The Garafolos created the new market this year after the previous market operators decided not to return for 2025.