One year after the Nashville Farmers Market implemented its “local only” rule, vendors said the move was bad for business.
The rule was meant to ensure that all of the produce and items sold here were local.
The word “local” though meant the seller has to either grow or make the products themselves, which forced a lot of other vendors out.
Some vendors told NewsChannel 5 they didn’t want to go on camera because they were scared of backlash from officials at the farmers market.
They said the problem wasn’t necessarily the weekend, but during the week – when the market is far from full.
“Seasonality is why we're not totally full right now. We have farmers who are going to come when their product is in season,” said Jackie Contreres with the Farmers Market.
Even though there a number of empty stalls they have gotten high numbers of applications from farmers who want to sell.
