We welcome autumn.
We celebrate it with open arms and corn stalks and scarecrows, giant mugs of coffee and pumpkin spiced lattes and pumpkin scented candles and pumpkin scented hair gel. (That last one might be a pumpkin stretch – you tell me.)
But when summer says goodbye, we lose a little part of a TR seasonal tradition that ranks right up there with our favorites. The Saturday morning Travelers Rest Farmers Market closes its open-air doors for the season. It changes up our Saturdays. It forces us to shop a little differently and we miss the weekly ritual of seeing the friendly faces of farmers and friends. We miss tasting the pralines and giving Shelby at Swamp Rabbit Tees a high five and saying hello to Mr. Satterfield and perusing Greg Patton’s beautiful pottery. We miss it all.
But it’s not all sad faces and disappointment, y’all.
We’ve got good news. Perfectly lovely autumn-embracing good news.
During the already fabulous month of October, the Travelers Rest Farmers Market is hosting the Harvest Market and Bluegrass Festival.
We don’t have to say goodbye! We actually get to see hello in a brand new way.
Think of it as the Saturday market, on a Thursday. At night! With bluegrass music! And, because it’s an evening affair, with craft beer and wine and dinner choices.
Y’all. Who’s celebrating with us?
Every Thursday in October the Harvest Market happens at Trailblazer Park from 5:30 to 8:30.
One weeknight dinner just got planned for an entire month.
You won’t even believe the dinner options either. I’m telling you – it’s a win in all directions. (Try a different vendor each week – or try two, just to be sure you cover all of your bases this month.) There’s pizza from Coastal Crust and BBQ from Hungry Drover. Delicious options from Gravy Train, Streatery, The Chillwagon, Robino’s and Tandem. (Have you seen Tandem’s adorable yellow crepe mobile?)
Here’s the line up if you want to map out your weekly dining decisions early.
Fall Bluegrass Festival & Harvest Market food vendor schedule:
Oct. 5 – Coastal Crust, Hungry Drover, Tandem, Streatery, The Chillwagon
Oct. 12 – Gravy Train, Coastal Crust, Streatery, Tandem, The Chillwagon
Oct. 19 – Robino’s, Coastal Crust, Tandem, The Chillwagon
Oct. 26 – Robino’s, Gravy Train, Coastal Crust, Hungry Drover, The Chillwagon
Music on a Saturday morning is always pleasant, but there’s something downright dreamy about listening to bluegrass as the evening light fades and the twinkling lights turn on and you’re sitting at a long table in your favorite small town with various friends and family stopping by.
That’s the Harvest Market vibe, ya’ll.
Bring a lawn chair or a picnic blanket and set up camp to listen and laugh, dine and dish the night away.
Here’s the musical line up for the Bluegrass Festival.
Fall Bluegrass Festival & Harvest Market music schedule:
Oct. 5 – Electric City Blue
Oct. 12 – Backline Bluegrass
Oct. 19 – The Grassabilies
Oct. 26 – 5th String Band
And because the kind folks at the market want you to take your evening nice and slow, they’ve been gracious enough to provide a refrigerated unit for you to store your purchases in while you shop and listen and visit. (Isn’t that convenient?)
The vendor line up is a good one too. Travelers Rest High School will be selling their much anticipated cookbooks that all of you fine readers helped create. (We already plan to grab a handful to give away as Christmas gifts too.) In fact, thinking about Christmas for these markets is a great plan and a good way to both spread your costs out and to share the love with local farmers and artisans.
Here is the list of vendors for the Harvest markets so you can make your plans to stock up on all of your favorites.
A Dapper Sandlapper; Appalachian Spirit Folk Instruments; ARTSYBOB; Blaine Owens Photography; C. H. Dixon Pottery; Chocolate Artworks, Cool Mountain Farm; Creasman Farms; Energi Treats; Fraylick Farm; Great Harvest Bread Co.; Green Valley Farms; Herb and Earth Soap Co; Local Leaf; Modern Forestry Soy Candles; Morningside Fermenting; Ms Lillian’s Pies; Palmetto Pickup Wines; Paper, Twine, & Twigs; Pick and Preserve; Red Clay Soap; Rocky Bottom Mushrooms; Saint Basil Farm; Satterfield Farms; Skyland Farms; Southern Berkshire Farm; Susan Allison Designs; Swamp Rabbit Tees; T.C. Redesign; The Painted Folk; Those Pickle Ladies; Tiny House Big Farm; Travelers Rest High School FFA; Upcountry Provisions Bakery and Bistro; Wild Harvest Soap Co; and ZANEWERKS.
We hope to see you all at the table and on the lawn and under the pavilion each Thursday night, rejoicing that even though we must say goodbye for now to the Saturday markets, the Thursday markets are much more than a consolation prize. They’re an incredible evening of shopping and visiting, dining and listening and a part of what makes TR so special.
