The Black Mountain Tailgate Market, now in its 31st season, has recently acquired 501(c)(3) nonprofit status and has reorganized its board as a result, according to Board President Kiersten Hall.
Hall said because of the market’s new nonprofit status, no one who profits from the market can be on the board, meaning no vendors can be on the board. The market board is now made up of community members, but Hall said there is still an advisory board of vendors.
“We definitely do not want to have a board without the first-hand vendor input,” Hall said. “That’s what we run on. The board is there to support the vendors in any way that we can.”
Hall said the Black Mountain Tailgate Market will be about the same size as last year in terms of vendors, ranging from 50 to 60 vendors at each market, including nonprofits and community programs. She said there are 19 member vendors who have signed up for the whole season.
Hall said the tailgate market is hoping to have “youth entrepreneurs” at the first and last market of each month, allowing for younger vendors to sell at the market for the day.
She said there is a new Friends of the Market level of support. For $60, an individual or business can become a friend and receive market merchandise and their name on the website.
Hall said she encourages people to come out and shop at the market.
“These vendors are your neighbors,” Hall said. “They produce all this food locally, the create everything with their own hands. The music is phenomenal and we have plenty of eggs.”
In order to support some of the market’s farmers in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Helene, Black Mountain Tailgate Market Manager Jacqueline Smith and customer Stephanie Byars created a GoFundMe to raise funds for some of the vendors. As of May 1, the GoFundMe has raised more than $37,700.
Smith said it quickly became apparent after the storm that she would need to find a way to help those who were most impacted. She said the damage ranged from people losing their homes or farms to vendors who lost business because they were not able to go to markets.
“I think it’s really important for organizations like ours to do everything in our power to be supportive of the folks that feed us,” Smith said.
More than seven months after Helene, Smith said the fundraiser will continue, working to provide food equity in the Swannanoa Valley. She said they will now focus on food access programs at the market, particularly in the face of cuts at the federal level.
“It’s just looking like it could be very bleak,” Smith said. “I think that it is the task of the market to be a light right now and to the world and certainly to our little corner of it.”
The Black Mountain Tailgate Market is held from 9 a.m.-noon every Saturday from May 3 to Nov. 22 behind the First Baptist Church at 130 Montreat Road.
Karrigan Monk is the Swannanoa Valley communities reporter for Black Mountain News, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at kmonk@blackmountainnews.com.
