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Signs of summer

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Staff photo.

Staff photos.

Staff photos.

Staff photos.

Farmers markets opening this month:

The West Homewood and Urban Cookhouse farmers markets will be back and bigger than ever this year. The West Homewood Market starts June 7 and runs every Tuesday until Aug. 30, and the Urban Cookhouse market runs on Saturdays from June 18 to Aug. 20. 

Regular shoppers will notice some changes this year. Most notably, Urban Cookhouse owner Andrea Snyder said the market will move from the SoHo parking lot to the large concrete pad on the Central Avenue side of Homewood Central Park. This will give the vendors greater visibility to passing potential customers. West Homewood Market Manager Kenyon Ross said although there will be no markets planned for the fall, the total number of markets planned for the year will be greater than in years past. 

Urban Cookhouse shoppers will have the opportunity to choose from 20 local vendors each week, including Hamm Farms, The Peach Man and Darlene’s Kitchen. Homewood Musical Instrument Co. will provide entertainment from 9-11 a.m., and Homewood Toy and Hobby is sponsoring a children’s area that includes face painting and balloon art. Urban Cookhouse also hosts a Thursday evening market at The Summit, with different vendors. At the West Homewood market, 57 vendor booths will offer everything from fresh produce to goods like fresh-baked cookies and handmade pottery. Motel Ice Machine is providing entertainment at the kickoff market.

Ross, who is in charge of approving vendor applications, said one of the things that makes the West Homewood Market unique is that the majority of vendors either make or grow what they sell. The few exceptions, he said, offer truly unique finds. 

“It’s hard to believe it has already been six years,” said Ross, when he thought back to the market’s humble beginnings. 

It all started, he said, with a small group of members at Shades Valley Community Church. The group’s inspiration was the first chapter of Genesis, which talks about the good that God created. Shades Valley, at 160 Oxmoor Road, still hosts the market.

“We believe that Christians ought to be champions of the things God created,” said Ross. “While we don’t have much control over whether the sun and moon rise every day, we can be good stewards of the earth, the ground, animals.”

Though religious beliefs inspired the group, Ross said what drives the market is simply a desire to support something good.

“We wanted to support local food, local trade,” said Ross. “The benefits of community that have come from the market are immeasurable.” 

The founding members, said Ross, chose the market’s location based on its intimate qualities rather than its visibility. 

“We like the concept of ‘sit-ability,’” said Ross. “We want people to feel like they can come and stay. We want to ‘Feed the Tummy and the Soul.’”

To help ramp up the “sit-ability” factor, plans are in the works to improve the West Homewood market’s speakers for improved show experiences as well as the market’s seating choices. For the first time, the market will now work with a children’s activity director, set to organize the kids’ entertainment station. Four food trucks and two dessert trucks, including new Homewood-based Bendy’s Cookies and Cream, will also be part of the lineup, offering treats that can be enjoyed alongside live entertainment. 

The market’s growth, said Ross, came from the need to be able to pay volunteers and therefore offer more market afternoons and evenings. 

“We intentionally started small to begin with,” said Ross, of the first four seasons of the market, which offered 17 vendors at most. “We wanted a small market that would fit the neighborhood and the space we had.” 

But the popularity and the frequency of the markets “wore out” volunteers, Ross said. It quickly became apparent that in order to sustain the market, it had to grow to accommodate a paid staff. On slow afternoons, the market may attract somewhere in the range of 300 customers, but that number can grow to upwards of 1,000. 

“We are all starving to have good relationships with our neighbors,” said Ross, on the rising popularity of farmers markets, both in Homewood and the greater Birmingham community. 

Ross said everyone, regardless of their religious beliefs, is welcome at the market. 

“We don’t play Christian music or advertise the church during the markets,” he said, “we are simply trying to be good stewards.”

For more information, including an interactive map of vendors, visit westhomewood.com and urbancookhouse.com/market.

– Sydney Cromwell contributed to this article.

Urban Cookhouse Farmers Market

West Homewood Farmers Market

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