Kentucky Proud will showcase the Winchester-Clark County Farmers Market in its 2027 marketing campaign. A film crew from Red Tag Digital joined Department of Agriculture officials at the market on Depot Street on Saturday to interview and video several of the vendors.
“I think it’s great for the market. It’s good exposure,” said one of the vendors, Jason Stewart of Double L Farm on Combs Ferry Road, who just moved to Winchester last year.
Sam Rossi of R5 Farm was one of those on camera. He and his father, Eric Rossi, sell vegetables at the market every Saturday.
“They asked questions about … the farmers market and what I’m passionate about — soil health and things like that,” he said.
MacKenzie Preece, KDA’s program coördinator for farmers’ markets, said the material gathered Saturday will be used in a series of commercials for the 2027 markets. Preece said the media team will film three 30-second commercials.
“It’ll be mainly for social media and our website,” she said.
They’ll also have photos for the Kentucky Proud magazine and other print and online publications.
“We scouted out a couple of different markets to figure out where we wanted to film” and chose Winchester’s, she said.
“It’s a market that has done really well,” she noted. Preece pointed out that Winchester’s market was also selected in a people’s choice online survey as this year’s Best of Kentucky winner for farmers’ markets, but KDA didn’t know that then.
“We had already narrowed down the list … and we found out that they won after we made our decision,” she said.
One thing that got KDA’s attention, she said, was that the Winchester-Clark County Farmers Market was one of the segments featured recently by LEX-18 in its recent TV news series highlighting Clark County.
Alex Kirkwood, manager of the Winchester-Clark County Farmers Market, was pleased with the recognition.
“It’s an honor and something that we can be proud of,” she said.
Kirkwood said she thinks “the ambience of it all” was a factor in choosing Winchester: the brick street, the old Sphar silo, the new canopy for the vendors.
“It’s just a cool experience, and it’s different from any other market,” she said.
Kirkwood said the Winchester market has great vendors, and all of the products sold there, whether fruits and vegetables, meat and eggs, or products such as preserves and crafts, must be grown or made in the vicinity of the market.
“We scouted out a couple of different markets to figure out where we wanted to film [and chose Winchester’s].”
MacKenzie Preece, KDA’s program coördinator for farmers’ markets
That means customers can count on fresh products but may not get everything throughout the season.
“Unless someone has a greenhouse or a hothouse, they’re not going to have tomatoes and green beans in May,” she said. “Our market has a lot of in-season stuff. We don’t have anybody who goes to Georgia and gets peaches or watermelons or anything like that. It’s all local.”
Locally sourced food is an emphasis of KDA as well. Anything labeled Kentucky Proud must be produced in Kentucky. Kentucky Proud is the marketing program of the state Department of Agriculture.
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Another farmer interviewed on camera Saturday was Amy Arvin of Arvin’s Farm and Greenhouse in Estill County, who was there with her daughter, Amber Stratton.
“I really enjoy this farmers’ market,” Arvin said. “We have a good turnout, and we have a lot of emerging vendors. I enjoy giving back to the community and being from here.”
Many of the visitors come nearly every Saturday morning.
“It’s a social event for everyone, no matter your age,” Kirkwood said. “If you have kids, you can bring them here. It’s kind of something for everyone.”
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