All's Well That Ends Well: How Alabama Farmers Marketers “Last Stand” Against Modernity Was Finally Resolved

Farmers markets are inextricably tied to local politics, culture, and individual feelings and behaviors about food and community. Just as the farmers market can be a site for community integration and bonding, it can also be a site of contention–especially when long-standing traditions are threatened. When city planners in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, decided to relocate the modest but long-established farmers market to a new indoor facility along the revitalized Black Warrior Riverfront, vendors and their clients rebelled, worried that a new facility would cater only to upscale shoppers. Ethnographic interviews with all key players were conducted to determine the values and needs of each interest group, with the hopes of reaching an optimal solution to the problem of supplying fresh fruits and vegetables to all citizens. This article features an analysis of points of convergence and divergence among farmer and customer opinions and presents the epilogue to this drawn-out conflict. [farmers market, conflict, ethnicity, class, urban planning] The site of this research is Tuscaloosa, Alabama, a mid-sized city that serves as the economic and cultural hub for northwestern Alabama and eastern Mississippi. A vendor-only farmers market has been in operation at various locales in Tuscaloosa County for nearly a century. The market has historically benefited the community by providing access to untaxed,1 fresh, local produce to all segments of society at prices equal to or lower than those at grocery stores. When the City proposed to move the market as part of their riverfront development plans, the farmers uniformly protested, as did most of their customers. What could possibly be wrong with this project? From the city’s vantage point, there was no downside. However, the farmers, usually a docile lot, were up in arms. The city, getting wind of this, wondered what on earth for. At this point the authors, all applied anthropologists and avid participants in the local sustainable food movement, decided to wade into the fray. Our efforts to engender greater understanding and cooperation between the city and the farmers began with informal interviews and a survey of opinion about the proposed relocation, in order to hopefully “grow consensus” on the matter. Our previous research has documented the saga as it has unfolded (------------------------------------------------------). Here we report the denouement, the final chapter in the story of how, as the plans took shape, a divergence of opinion formed among the farmers and how the issue was ultimately resolved. This narrative has implications for farmers markets everywhere, as conflicts are prone to develop, especially as cities take a greater interest in directing the development of farmers markets as urban assets. Framing the Narrative This is an account of how elected government officials attempted to, and ultimately did, shape food access by relocating a farmers market site, and of the conflict it engendered. It may seem, on the face of it, like a simple case of updating a market’s physical shed to attract more consumers. Scratch the surface and intersecting issues of tradition and modernity, ethnicity and class, distance and social space become apparent as well. This case illustrates the interplay of local government, farmers market stakeholders, and their customers in this process.2 It is a tale in three parts—