Did you know the county’s oldest farmers market is nestled in CMC’s main campus?
Who knew the county’s oldest farmers market was nestled among the buildings of Carolinas Medical Center‘s main campus? A green banner on the corner of East Morehead Street and Harding Place waves in the wind to let you know the doors at the Mecklenburg County Market are open.
I barged in on a mission during my first visit a couple of weeks ago. I needed vegetables. I found an okra-lush oasis.
More importantly, I found my five main food groups represented: dessert, produce, nuts, soup and kombucha.
I also found spacious parking. This, to me, is joy.
The Mecklenburg County Market was founded in 1937 by the McLaughlin family. Specifically, the great-grandmother of Beverly McLaughlin, Pearl Wallace.
The original market was located at Brevard and Second streets and the family moved the market to its current location at 1515 Harding Place in 1939, as described by a newspaper hanging on the wall by the front door.
The CMC main campus was built in 1940.
Though the market was officially purchased by the hospital 25 years ago it’s still a McLaughlin family operation that has spanned five generations, Beverly said. Her parents, Dale and Lucy, work there with her, as do her two sons.
“That’s the lifestyle my children have grown up in,” said Beverly, who has worked at the market since age 18. Now 47, she is best known for the variety she has pumped into the market via her vegan-and-vegetarian-friendly prepared-foods business, Beverly’s Gourmet Foods.
“The change and variety is what has kept it fresh,” she said.
But the lifestyle is what her father refuses to let go of. Dale said people keep asking him why he didn’t retire and enjoy life.
“What else could I do?” he said. “I work with my family.”
He also grows what people have told him are the best tomatoes in Charlotte — he cares for nearly 800 tomato plants. It turns out that the okra I cherished the previous week was grown by him, too.
Signs indicate where the foods have originated — apples from North Carolina and Virginia, grapes from California, lemons and limes from Florida, nuts from Charleston, peaches from South Carolina.
Dale tries to buy as local as possible for the market.
“The people I buy from, I can trust them,” he said. “I know what kind of pesticides they use and they’re not harmful.”
I think that means the dessert is also safe, right? I have my eye on the corner by the back door that runneth over with goods from Angelika’s Fine Swiss Bakery. I’m coming back for you, banana nut biscotti dipped in chocolate by the hands of angels.
The odds and ends are also endearing: Polly’s Gathering Place on one side of the room sprouts with aprons and furniture, stuffed animals and dolls, bundt cakes and apple butter and pies.
The business is open year-round, Monday and Tuesday 9 a.m.-6 p.m.,Wednesday 7 a.m.-6 p.m., Thursday and Friday, 9 a.m.-6 p.m. and Saturday 7 a.m.-3 p.m.
“The market is a good way to improve community health, which is a big focus of Carolinas HealthCare System,” said Claire Hosmann, clinical public relations specialist of Carolinas HealthCareSystem.
And it doesn’t sound like the McLaughlins intend to shut it down any time soon. Beverly is hooked to the market, thanks to her family tree and her gourmet food creations.
“I had to create a business that would keep me interested,” she said.
Take a peek inside. Something just might catch your interest, too.
Katie Toussaint‘s hobbies include digging through fresh produce and pondering what to do with said produce in her kitchen. When she’s not otherwise engaged, she edits for CharlotteFive and community news at the Charlotte Observer. Follow her on Twitter @katietoussaint.
This story was originally published September 23, 2015 at 1:00 AM with the headline "Did you know the county’s oldest farmers market is nestled in CMC’s main campus?."