The Ellijay Farmers and Artisans Market will soon welcome back a festive summertime event.
The market will hold its annual Christmas in July from 8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Saturday, July 27.
The farmers and artisans market is held each Saturday, from May to September, in the county parking lot behind the Downtown Welcome Center.
“We will have the Market Minstrels, which is a group of our musicians, coming to play Christmas music, and we’ll have a Santa there, as well,” said Jessica Tibbetts, market manager.
Like the farmers market itself, all the items sold at the early Christmas event are either homemade or made by hand.
“In addition to our produce vendors, we will have vendors who do themed wreaths, which is always very popular. We have vendors who make handmade quilts and crochet items, and we also have some unique artists who do glasswork,” said Tibbetts.
As for the regular farmers market, Tibbetts said it’s been a really good season in which between 40-50 vendors per week have brought their homegrown produce or home- baked goods to sell.
“We’ve really grown. the attendance has been great, and our vendors are really positive,” she added. “I think the only drawback has been the weather. The first couple of weeks, we got completely rained out. It has been warm, but we do have pet watering stations and benches for people to sit down on if they get too hot.”
Christmas in July, which is free to attend and open to the public, is one of two annual Christmas-themed events at the farmers market.
A Christmas market will also take place the weekend before Thanksgiving.
“It’s a special event we’ve done for several years after the regular season, and it will be in the same spot. We won’t have as many produce vendors obviously, but it will be geared more to Christmas and holiday shopping,” Tibbetts said.