The Hickman County Farmers Market is a newer addition to the community. The Hickman County Extension Office staff continues to offer programs at the market, and educate the public on the importance of shopping local and supporting the local producers. 

In order to celebrate peach season in Hickman County, the Just Peachy program was scheduled for July 13th, 2019. For this program, we partnered with the Four River Counties Early Childhood Council, KAPS Family Resource Center, Hickman County Memorial Library, Clinton-Hickman County Chamber of Commerce to offer educational activities for families and children that attended. 

For this program, we decided to add on a literacy component to the day and offer a free book - Pig Wants a Peach - to all the children who come out and complete the peach related activities. They completed a story walk around the Rotary Park walking trail, and received their own free book at the end of the trail. 

For educational information on peaches, kids were able to complete painting crafts using the pits of peaches. They were all able to sample free peaches from our local commercial grower, and shop locally from other vendors set up at the farmers market. Youth were educated on the difference in types of fruit available to purchase in Hickman County. They sampled the KY Plate It Up Peach Breakfast Bake. The memorial library used decoupage for the youth to create their own peaches. To wrap up the event, the children had the opportunity to go bobbing for peaches in the kiddy pool to cool off. 

This was s very fun youth-oriented program that many families enjoyed and took part in. 100% of the attendees said they would visit the Farmers Market again. 76% of the families reported that they regularly read with their children, however, 100% recorded that they were more likely to read with their children after attending this program and receiving a free book. 69% of the families reported having bought peaches from the local commercial peach producer in the community. After the program, 92% of the participants noted that they would be more likely to purchase peaches from the local producer. 61% of the respondents had previously attended story walk events at the Hickman County Farmers Market. 100% of the respondents responded that they would more likely attend story walk or other community events held at the Hickman County Farmers Market in the future.