Soperton Holds Ribbon Cutting Ceremony for New Farmers Market Pavilion

The city of Soperton held a ribbon cutting ceremony for the new pavilion for the Million Pines Farmers Market on Thursday, May 29, at the Jean Gillis Memorial Park in Soperton, Georgia.

“Today, we are just absolutely overwhelmed at the turnout, and thank you for being here to celebrate this pavilion/farmers market, where we’ll be able to use this for many years to come,” says Mayor John Koon.

The project to build the pavilion for the market began in 2017, led and designed by then Mayor Royce Fowler, Jr. and continued by Koon and the city council after Fowler left office. 

“This was a project that Mayor Fowler designed,” says Koon. “He wanted that old wood look, which everybody did, but he was the brains behind what it was going to look like, and we just followed his direction and what he wanted, and brought it to fruition.”

According to Koon, the pavilion was built using $320,000 of SPLOST funds, gathered from money spent at local establishments such as gas stations and restaurants. 

Jennifer Baker will serve as the director for Million Pines Farmers Market.

“She is a Soperton-ite, Treutlen County born and raised, loves this community, and I can’t wait to see what she’s going to do with it,” says Koon.

The ceremony also served as the first day of the farmers market, which Koon describes as offering “anything you could find in a grocery store except it’s fresh made.”

The ceremony featured three vendors: Autumn Lopez, who sold baked goods; Garland Carter, who sold produce; and Parker Farm, who sold produce and canned salsa. Koon hopes to bring in more vendors moving forward to provide variety.

“Hopefully, vendors will come in with not only fresh vegetables, but fruit,” says Koon. “We’re going to try to boil peanuts, maybe some cookies, jellies, james, anything they’d like to sell, you know, that’s homemade, and syrup or whatever it may be.”

The market also plans to collaborate with the Treutlen Canning Plant operated by the Treutlen County School System to enable customers to process their purchases right after buying.

“So it could be a one stop shop,” says Koon. “You can buy your corn and your tomatoes and your peas here, go across the road, get them shilled, get them [frozen], whatever you need to do, and hopefully that partnership will just breed more excitement.”

According to Koon, the farmers market will be open every Saturday during the summer from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. or 1 p.m. When fall begins, the market will only be open one Saturday per month.

The pavilion will also be available for community events, such as holiday celebrations, and can be reserved for private events such as birthdays. Individuals who wish to use the space will need to contact the Soperton City Hall to reserve a specific time.

“It’s turned out great, and now we hope that the citizens will not only use it, but, more importantly, take care of it,” says Koon. “It’ll be a sense of pride, I hope, for everybody, and that this just shows that, you know, you can work from administration to administration, for the betterment of the city and the betterment of the county.”