Farmer’s Market May Take Root Downtown

By Thomas Gnau, Middletown Journal, Ohio

Jun. 18–MIDDLETOWN, Ohio — Downtown Middletown is about to get greener.

Rowland Produce and city officials are working on bringing a small farmer’s market to the downtown area.

The market may take root first in the city bus parking area, northeast of First Avenue and Broad Street, in two to three weeks, said Judy Bober and Walker Rowland, who with his daughter Mary has operated a produce business for about five years at 6263 Germantown Road.

From there, the market could move to Governor’s Square, a patch of land that will soon be a park northwest of Central Avenue and Broad, said Bober, local activist and assistant to entrepreneur Perry Thatcher.

“The whole idea is: We want quality,” Bober said. “We don’t want a flea market.”

Downtown workers and visitors can expect two to three tables of tomatoes, apples, oranges, bananas, potatoes, onions, cantaloupes — “whatever we can fit in there,” Rowland said.

“I think it’s a good idea,” Rowland said. “Where you get produce, you always bring people down to you.”

During the summer, the business often drives to North Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia to pick up the freshest produce, Rowland said. The firm also buys locally, he said.

Middletown has had farmer’s markets in past years in that city parking lot.

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