On Saturdays, downtown Murray becomes the home of colorful tents, each one boasting their own produce, baked goods or crafts.
The Downtown Farmer’s Market allows farmers, bakers and crafters to sell their goods to the community every Saturday, starting in May and ending in October every year.
Ricky Boatright, a beekeeper and owner of Boatright Bee Farm, spends his Saturday mornings selling honey. His stand offers creamed honey, creamed cinnamon honey, regular honey and hot honey.
“This is the best market in the country,” Boatright said.
Rebecca and Dan Wright run Wright Farms and Orchard. Rebecca said Dan started planting trees in 2021, and they had to wait three years before harvesting apples.
“It’s good relationship building, I think,” Rebecca Wright said. “We have regular customers every week that we have built a relationship with, and I just love that. They come to us every Saturday.”
Dan Wright said having a farmer’s market in Murray is important.
“The farmer’s market provides an important outlet for us, being a producer and being a grower,” Dan Wright said. “It gives us a place to come and hook up with the locals.”
Besides farmers and their produce, the Downtown Farmer’s Market hosts artists selling anything from jewelry to ceramic plates and mugs.
Nancy McMurtry sells her handmade ceramic items at Sunshine Pottery.
“There’s so many people that come through here,” McMurtry said. “It’s just a captive audience. It’s a great place to sell, and I think this is one of the top farmer’s markets in the state.”
The farmer’s market website states the Murray’s farmer’s market can be traced back to the late 1800s, where every fourth Monday of the month was “Trade Day.” The first modern farmer’s market in Murray was in July of 1998.
These vendors all said their main reason for selling at the farmer’s market is the community.
“People in general are very, very nice and they appreciate my art,” McMurtry said.
Boatright said he enjoys the foot traffic that his stand gets and how many people he can speak to on a Saturday morning.
“There’s lots of people, they’re nice,” he said. “And I like to talk about bees, and honey and how this honey’s made, so I really enjoy it.”
Rebecca and Dan Wright said they enjoy building a relationship with the locals.
“We like being here, people know we’re here,” Dan Wright said. “I think it’s safe to say if they want apples, (the) majority of them come down here and recognize us as the apple people.”
The Downtown Farmer’s Market in Murray is open from 7 a.m. to noon in the Court Square downtown. For more information, visit the Downtown Farmer’s Market website.
