In our ongoing effort to hook guests up with some fun around here, we took a road trip to the Athens Farmer’s Market, and also the J&J Flea Market. Both of these places are in Athens and if it is the right weekend it is fine for a day trip. Anyway, this is our story and we are sticking with it
And another thing: These places are examples of what we like to call “human scale living”, and like a lot of other things, if we don’t show up to them, they’ll go away.
Directions
The Athens Farmer’s Market is on Sunset Street in Athens. At the end of the driveway, turn on your GPS. Alternately, at the end of the driveway turn left. When you get to the middle of town, turn left again, and stay on 441 for about 45 minutes. When you reach Loop 10 around Athens, take around town to the Prince Avenue exit. Get off the Prince Avenue exit, and go toward the inside of the loop. Whether it is a right or a left depends on which direction you’re going around.
When you get to Sunset Avenue take a right. You’re looking for Bishop Park which is a big nice park in Athens with tennis and attractive people. It’s on the right.
Or, you could just click on this website:
http://athensfarmersmarket.net/
Why the Road Trip to the Athens Farmer’s Market is important.
Well, it’s because there are a lot of day trips near Madison, and we do enjoy putting our guests onto some interesting experiences. We’re practically experts on travel in the southeast US. If you are a visitor from Europe and California, it’s fun to know that there are plenty of unique and interesting places to visit. We also like to poke around in Farmers Markets, because you never know what you are going to find. So a lot of our day trips feature such a visit, and often we bring home something fun for the guests. We like the Human Scale Living and Back Roads Travel, and this is both.
The Athens Farmer’s Market
This Farmer’s Market is pretty big, and rather interesting with booths, some of which get to set up under a big roof. This pleasant spot has some live music, hippies, dogs, and other fun.
Highlights: Ed the Garlic Farmer, who gave us some wisdom on the topic of Garlic, and some people from Master Gardener program, who invited one of us to take the test and become a master gardener.
More highlights: Kids with hula hoops and sidewalk chalk, beautiful peppers, and a nice friendly vibe.
The biggest line was for carbs. There was a booth there from one of the local grocery stories. Further fun: Live bluegrass music played by “String Theory” which is a local bluegrass band. Hey, who knew that the String Theory would also have a website:
https://m.facebook.com/StringTheoryAthens/
Basic Harmless Fun
I suppose we weren’t really after anything other than harmless fun. If you really wanted some sort of farm-raised produce, would this have been a good place? Sure, but based on our recent trek to Farmview Market, that would have been equally good and closer to the Firefly.
This fun was about getting out of the house, being around some people who want to make a community gathering nice, and getting some of their positive energy.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/CTHwb8hlvPD/?utm_medium=share_sheet
Stop 2: The J and J Flea Market
This place is about 4 miles away, and we had seen it on one of the other road trips we’ve been on. This is a big former farm in some trees north of town, and the best that can be said is that it was “less organized.”
At this place, if you have a few things to sell, you can show up on Saturday morning, pay a few dollars, and they will let you run a “booth.” The more established vendors have a collection of livestock, fresh fruit and vegetables, and a collection of salvage stuff that may have come from your garage, if it was broken into.
Highlights: We got to hold a pig if we wanted to, and had a talk with the Rabbit Guy. We also bought the Treasure of the Day for $2 which is the book “Weird Georgia” which we will use for even more weird road trips in the future.
Would we do this over, or necessarily recommend it to a guest? Probably not. We tend to like things a little tidier and better organized. But if the treasure of the day had been some vintage action figures or Ginsu Knives in their original box (water damaged) we might have been more favorable to it.
In fact, we might go back for some tools. Nothing there has a price on it, and a lot of people come from one of those cultures where haggling is common. There are options, and it gave us a few minutes of entertainment.
Stop 3: The Blind Pig Tavern
We really needed a place with air conditioning, and did not feel like downtown. The Blind Pig was a decadent option. Feast of the day was a chicken wrap, with sweet potato tots, and a nice chicken salad sandwich with Tater Tots, which are the only kind of tots that should be allowed.
The place was filling up with youngsters dressed up in either football or soccer attire, and some overfed dads. This establishment would probably have served us an alcoholic beverage had we been interested in the extra calories.
Stop 4: Michael’s
Okay, this is just Michael’s. It was on the way back to the car, and we were in a certain frame of mind when we went in. When we came out, though, we were transformed to some other more ambitious frame of mind.
We remarked at the time that Michae’ls, in addition to bright colors and nice things, is about making your life a little better. It’s for starting a project, painting something, or buying one of those pillows with some sort of inspirational message.
In that way, it’s sort of like the gym. People go in there with the idea of making some aspect of their life better.
In 20 minutes, a plan was hatched for a “Door Hanger” class, some canvasses were purchased for an art class, and we got exposed to epidemic giggling on the part of a group of little girls who were about some sort of group project.
We can tolerate that kind of epidemic.
Do Over: The Athens Farmer’s Market
So in all of this, would we do it over, or send a guest there? The Farmer’s Market definitely. The J and J flea market? Probably not. It is not for everybody. The Blind Pig? We keep waiting for the one in Watkinsville to open up. The food was well-prepared, the wait people were attentive college kids, and the buzz was favorable. A favorable buzz, as we have said earlier, is well worth experimenting with food.
Michael’s? Not only would we go there again, it is now a go-to place to get some inspiration. There are new ideas for classes or fun activities, bright colors, a clearance bin with a lot of fun clearance items, and some people watching. So from now on, the day of the year that we are the most ticked off and frustrated, this is the place for mental transformation.
Sometimes unexpected things happen on our road trips, but quite often, it starts out being one way, and ends up another way.
Warning
If you decide to repeat this feat, don’t go the day of a UGA home game, because this is one of the great tailgate sites in the country. Traffic and everything else comes to a screeching halt, even here which is on the other side of town.
So, check the football schedule if you decide on a road trip to the Athens Farmer’s Market.
Be there in the square, because it is there.
That sounds like a worthy Saturday diversion. A little of something turning into a little of something else. What more could you ask for?