There has been an ongoing issue in Graves County with creating and sustaining a robust Farmers' Market for the community. Due to several issues, among them not having a good, permanent location to host a market, there has been a lot of negative feedback regarding any efforts to make a market available . According to the 2017 Census, Graves County is the number 1 county for Ag Sales, beating out the second place county by almost $1.2 million dollars. As a county built around agriculture, it has always been perplexing as to why this has been such an issue. Recognizing this issue, a community group set out to change that by soliticing funds to purchase a lot to place a pavilion and create a permanent, dedicated home for a farmers' market. This group made good headway and plans were set in motion until the tragic tornado hit the heart of downtown Mayfield on December 10, 2021. The market plans were put on hold until the city could clean up and begin to think about recovery. Around a year and a half later, the community group reached out to the new Graves County ANR Agent to ask for help getting the ball rolling once again. While a tragic event, the tornado was a mixed blessing for plans for the new market group. With the total destruction of many downtown structures, several business owners made the decision not to rebuild and city lots started becoming available. This provided an opportunity to secure a piece of property closer to the heart of downtown, making a more accessible location for the new market. The problem left for the county ag agent was to figure out a way to change any negativity that had rooted among the community and create a fresh and exciting market with a good foundation to ensure success for years to come. 

The first challenge was to think of a way to create a fresh new perception for a Graves County Farmers' Market. At the urging of the county ag agent, the group decided to create a completely new market to separate it from any old ideas of what the market would be. It was then that the Mayfield Downtown Farmers' Market was created complete with a fresh new logo, merchandise designs, structure for a board of directors and new market manager, and marketing strategies. After a new name was established, the next problem to address was getting a KY Proud Farmer's Market certification so that funding could be applied for. That required a start date, which was problematic because of moving out of the harvest season and the committee not wanting to wait until Spring to launch. To fix that issue, the county ag agent proposed having a Holiday Market to kick things off. This would allow the market to have an official start date and create opportunities to get people exposed to and excited about this new venture, while giving them the winter and early spring to work on getting ready for the official market to begin. 

Recognizing that the community needed something fun and exciting to look forward to, together with the Graves County Extension Office, the farmers' market committee planned and hosted this Holiday Market Event on Saturday, November 11th. The original plan was to host on the future market site, however there were issues with getting it accessible for customers to get to with the ongoing cleanup happening downtown. It was then decided it would be hosted at the Graves County Extension Office, but left only 2 weeks to get vendors and advertise. To draw more people in, the Extension Office personel decided to band together and create a fun holiday experience by having county ag agent and her husband dress up as Santa and Mrs. Claus for children to visit, the FCS agent and homemakers baked homemade sugar cookies for Santa to give out and prepared hot cocoa, and the 4H program assistant created holiday crafts for the children to do. The office support staff were also in attendance helping make sure everything was running smoothly. Thanks to this effort, even in a short window of time, a total of 19 Graves County vendors were secured and the building was full of local shopping opportunities. Over 175 people came to shop and visit Santa, including the Mayor of Mayfield, which more than surpassed what the committee had hoped for. Thanks to this huge success, the market was able to obtain official KY Proud Status, more community partners have gotten involved, and funding has been applied for so that final plans can start coming together to create a market that this devastated community deserves. 

This project was a strong example of the success of community collaborations and proof that the community members support this endeavor. Community groups represented in this effort are Pilgrims Pride Poultry, Hometown Improvement Project, Mayfield Rebuilds, Mayfield Urban Planning Team, City of Mayfield government, Graves County government, Graves County Health Department, West KY Rural Electric, Riley Architects, US Bank, 1st Kentucky Bank, FNB Bank, and Graves County Cooperative Extension.

The goal of this project is to create a safe and welcoming place for the community to gather, promote agriculture within Graves County and other surrounding areas, increase access to healthy foods, provide opportunities to small farms and local artisans to promote their products, and to create a place that Graves County can be proud to have after so much tragedy from the past few years.