The Sandy Springs Farmers Market is “doing great,” according to organizer Andy Bauman.
“It’s blown us away,” said Bauman, who with business partner Jeffrey Langfelder introduced the Saturday-morning market May 1. The market features locally grown produce and handmade products.
The market opens from 8 a.m. to noon each week in the parking lot of the former Target store at Sandy Springs Circle and Johnson Ferry Road.
“It’s exceeded, in so many ways, all expectations,” Bauman said, adding that around 1,000 people attend weekly. He said the market should continue through December.
Marketgoers also seem pleased.
Native Sandy Springer Susan Wynn, on the market’s Facebook page, said she has “loved seeing my city mature. The market is an indication of thoughtful change, and the energy there every Saturday is a sign of our enthusiasm for it!”
Bauman said the market has around 45 vendors each week and that it has “incubated” new business ventures. Two attorneys, he said, started an ice cream business called Westside Creamery. M. E. Amore, a company that makes homemade pasta, also started this year at the market.
Bauman said the farmers market has raised money, through lemonade and water sales, for nonprofits like the Sandy Springs Police Benevolent Fund and Heritage Sandy Springs.
“We are doing something every week,” Bauman said, and soon money will be raised for local schools including North Springs Charter High School and Heards Ferry Elementary School.
At a recent market, he added, a dog and two cats were adopted when a rescue organization visited.
For more information, visit www.sandyspringsfarmersmarket.com.