Watauga County Farmers Market

10/16/2026

TOMORROW! 🍎🥧🪕🍏🎉 This is one market morning you won’t want miss…

📰Read all about this year’s event and make plans to join us for AppleFEST, this Saturday 10/17!

The Watauga County Farmers Market invites the community to AppleFEST on October 17 at Daniel Boone Park, celebrating autumn with local apples, fresh produce, and crafts from 8 a.m. to noon. Enjoy family-friendly festivities, live Appalachian music, and traditional food offerings in the heart of the....

10/16/2026

If you’ve been meaning to stock up on local peppers, savor a few more tomato sandwiches, or bring home a bouquet of dahlias, now’s the time!🍅💐🍂

With frost expected Saturday night, our farmers are working hard to harvest and protect the tender crops we’ve enjoyed all summer. Now’s the time to fill your bags, support their efforts, and bring home the last tastes of summer alongside all your fall favorites.

And tomorrow, we’re celebrating AppleFEST! 🍎

🥧 Apple Pie Contest: Bring your pie by 10 AM - no registration required! Prizes for Best Overall, Best Flavor, Prettiest Pie, and Most Creative at 11:30 AM.

🍏 Fresh C***r Pressing: Watch Matt Cooper press apples from Deal Orchards and enjoy a fresh c***r sample.

🎻 Community Old-Time Jam: Local old-time musicians will bring the tunes! Bring your instrument and join in, or listen while you shop.

🎃 Hand-Me-Down Hub: We’re hosting a kids’ costume swap in the Kids Corner! Bring a costume to pass along, or find one to take home - no exchange required.

🎟️ Abundance Raffle: Last chance to win one of four baskets filled with vendor goodies! Drawing at 11:30 AM.

💛 Sharing the Bounty: Visit Hunger & Health Coalition at the Donation Station and buy something extra for the Harvest Table.

🥕 Double your SNAP dollars with Double Up Food Bucks! Visit the Market Info Booth.

Pull on a cozy sweater, grab your market bags, and make a morning of it!

📍 Daniel Boone Park · 591 Horn in the West Dr.
🍎 Saturday, October 17 · 8 AM - noon

10/15/2026

🍂So this is it… peak leaf season in the High Country.

That fleeting stretch of time when our mountains are set on fire with beauty and we feel like we’re living in a postcard. Gold, yellow, red, and rust envelop the landscape as the colder, darker days draw near.

Even though we know it’s coming, somehow the photographs and memories of falls past never quite capture the magic of being here again.

For most of us, the changing seasons are bittersweet.

For farmers, the meaning is quite literal.

Peak leaf season also coincides with our average first frost date (October 14th!). And while we’re admiring the changing leaves, farmers are watching the forecast like hawks, harvesting around the clock, and scrambling to protect the last of their summer crops and flowers.

One cold night can bring an abrupt end to months of growing.

But here’s the sweet side of the story…

As apples ripen, their starches turn to sugars, and cool autumn nights help bring out their color. Crops like carrots, spinach, kale, and Brussels sprouts can grow even sweeter with the cold.

It’s one of autumn’s little miracles. Just as the landscape puts on its most spectacular show, the harvest offers up some of its sweetest rewards.

And while the crowds begin to thin, the harvest doesn’t slow down. In fact, it often picks up pace.

So as you head out to admire the changing leaves this weekend, make the Market part of your autumn tradition. Fill your bags with the flavors of the season, celebrate AppleFEST with us, and help make all that hard work worthwhile.

After all, these beautiful days won’t last forever. That’s part of what makes them so precious. 🍁

💌 There’s more to this bittersweet season than meets the eye. Read this week’s Market Musings for a glimpse into what autumn really means for our High Country farmers.
🔗 https://michelledineensmith.substack.com/p/the-bittersweet-season?r=62xg7z&utm_medium=ios

10/15/2026

53 seasons in the making, and a little more to celebrate this fall. 💚 Thank you to the Watauga Democrat for shining a light on our Market, the people who make it what it is, and the community who made us #1!

We’ll be hosting a community celebration at the Market on Saturday, October 24! Stay tuned for the details.🥂🍪🥕

The Watauga County Farmers Market is recognized as one of the Southeast’s top five markets after winning North Carolina’s favorite market in the 2026 America’s Favorite Farmers Market competition. The market’s 2025 economic impact was $1.83 million, highlighting its role in the local economy...

10/14/2026

🍎🍏 Behind the Booth: A Look Inside Deal Orchards

An apple takes a whole lot longer to grow than a season. It takes years of tending a young tree before that first harvest - and at Deal Orchards, the roots reach all the way back to 1939.

That’s when Alan Deal’s grandfather, Brack Deal, planted the first trees in the Brushy Mountains of Alexander County. Today, Alan and a crew of nearly 30 people tend, pick, pack, and sell fruit from about 100 acres of peaches, nectarines, apples, Asian pears, and more.

Alongside their seasonal fruit, they offer fresh c***r and make their own dried apples in a certified kitchen.

The fruit on their market tables represents work that continues long after the last apple is picked: winter pruning, training young trees, protecting spring blossoms, monitoring summer pests, and carefully grading and packing each harvest. Every season brings a different mix of weather, challenges, and lessons.

Over the past two decades, the Deals have worked to make that care more ecological. They scout their orchards weekly for insects and disease, use nonchemical management wherever possible, provide and protect pollinator habitat, and stay closely connected with NC State’s tree fruit research team.

In 2024, much of their acreage earned Eco Certified status through a third-party program focused on growing tree fruit responsibly on the East Coast. And in 2025, they added solar panels to their farm market roof.

There’s plenty of expertise behind those efforts, too. Alan serves as president of the NC Apple Growers Association, and Eli holds a master’s degree in agronomy, with nearly 20 years of experience in agricultural extension and consulting. They might not lead with those accomplishments, but we’re happy to brag on them a little!

With AppleFEST coming up this Saturday, October 17, it’s a fitting time to celebrate the people behind this beloved fall harvest. Deal Orchards’ apples will be featured in our fresh c***r pressing! Come enjoy a taste, then stop by their booth to pick out apples for your next pie or afternoon snack and get to know the folks helping keep our community connected to the orchard.

10/13/2026

🍎 Calling all pie bakers, c***r sippers, and autumn lovers! AppleFEST returns to the Market this Saturday, October 17, from 8 AM - noon!

Join us for a morning of mountain traditions, local harvests, and community fun:

🥧 APPLE PIE CONTEST - Dust off your favorite recipe! Bring your pie by 10 AM; no registration required. Prizes for Best Overall, Best Flavor, Prettiest Pie, and Most Creative will be awarded at 11:30 AM.

🍎 FRESH-PRESSED C***R - Watch the old-fashioned apple press in action and enjoy a sample of fall’s sweetest sip.

🪕 COMMUNITY OLD-TIME JAM - We’re opening the Music Tent for an old-time jam! Bring your instrument and a few friends, and help fill the Market with music.

🎃 KIDS’ COSTUME SWAP - Bring costumes your family no longer needs and take what’s useful! No exchange required at the Hand-Me-Down Hub (you don’t have to bring something to take something home).

🧺 ABUNDANCE RAFFLE - Four baskets filled with wonderful contributions from our vendors! Drawing at 11:30 AM.

Plus, all the beautiful fall produce, handmade goods, and familiar faces that make Saturday mornings at the Market so special. ❤️

📍 Daniel Boone Park • 591 Horn in the West Drive
🗓 Saturday, October 17 • 8 AM - noon

Tag a friend who makes a winning apple pie! 🍎🥧

10/11/2026

By the time we packed up yesterday, our fingers were pruned, our tablecloths and tents were soaked through, and we were cold and ready to dry off. But we were proud to have been there for our community, as we are every Saturday morning.

Forecasts of hurricane remnants and flood warnings carry a different weight here now. Two years after Helene, we remember what it felt like when the rain kept falling and the devastation unfolded. Understandably, many folks stayed home.

Others pulled on raincoats and boots and headed into town, thinking of the farmers and makers who would be there, hoping to sell what they had grown and made.

For farmers, the harvest doesn’t pause for the weather. Crops are ready when they’re ready, and perishable goods can’t always wait another week. A rainy market means hours of wet work and, often, bringing home much of what we hoped to sell.

That’s why it matters so much when you come.

Nearly 700 of you showed up yesterday. That’s less than half the crowd we’d typically expect on an October Saturday, but every purchase, every encouraging word, every familiar face beneath an umbrella made a difference.

Three brave youth makers stuck it out alongside us. A musician shared the music tent with his student, making room for a performance while keeping instruments clear of the drips. Our staff kept smiling through the soaking conditions. A generous donor provided funds to purchase unsold produce for Hospitality House Northwest NC supporting farmers and feeding neighbors at the same time.

And a reporter still came out to tell the story of our #1-in-North-Carolina win. On a morning like that, there was something especially fitting about celebrating a market built on people showing up for one another.

Today, the last of the rain is giving way to sunshine. We’re drying out tents, washing tablecloths, and feeling grateful for everyone who brought a little warmth to a very wet Saturday. ☔️💓

10/09/2026

Bring a basket. Bring someone you love. Bring home a little October. 🍂

Golden pears, beautiful mushrooms, fresh fall vegetables, a slice of cake for later - and something handmade you didn’t even know you were looking for. There’s so much to discover when you spend a Saturday morning with the people who grow and make it.

This Saturday:

🎶 Stefan Kunz in the Music Tent.
🎨 Youth Makers Market with Watauga Arts Council in Kids Corner.
🥕 Hospitality House Northwest NC at the Donation Station + the Harvest Table for your extra purchases to nourish our neighbors.
🧡 Celebrating #1 in NC! Free temporary tattoos at Market Info + one FREE Abundance Raffle entry for Local Love Loyalty Lanyard holders.
🍎 Pick up apples for your entry into our Apple Pie Contest at AppleFEST, October 17!

Come stock up for cozy meals, choose a bouquet to brighten your week, and catch up with your neighbors. These autumn market mornings are worth making time for. 🧡

See you tomorrow, 8 AM - noon at Daniel Boone Park - rain or shine!☔️

A little reminder: our season runs through the end of November, so there are still eight more weeks of market magic to look forward to! ✨

10/08/2026

“This is my happy place.” ☀️

We heard those words over and over again throughout our campaign to become North Carolina’s #1 farmers’ market.

But what is it about a farmers’ market that makes us feel so good?

Maybe it’s the vitality we gain from eating real food. The hope we feel when we experience authentic connection. The purpose we find in supporting our local economy and co-creating our shared culture. The undeniable sense of place that is increasingly rare to find.

A farmers’ market is so much more than a place to shop. It’s a reflection of who we are, what we value, and what we can create together.

Autumn’s vibrant harvest has spent all summer drinking in the sun, turning that sunlight into something that nourishes us.

And maybe community works something like that, too.

All season long, we’ve been cultivating something together, one Saturday at a time.

You are the sunshine poured into this place. And the community we create together is the fruit. 🌻

Our #1-in-North-Carolina win belongs to all of us. Thank you for helping us grow something so beautiful.

Read this week’s Market Musings: “You are the sunshine” for more on what we’ve grown together. 💛

https://michelledineensmith.substack.com/p/you-are-the-sunshine?r=62xg7z&utm_medium=ios

10/07/2026

We did it, Boone! 🙌💚🎉

With 2,222 votes, Watauga County Farmers’ Market has been voted #1 in North Carolina and one of the top five farmers’ markets in the Southeast in American Farmland Trust’s 2026 America’s Farmers Market Celebration!

We asked you to help tell the world what this Market means to you, and you showed up. You voted, shared, texted friends, forwarded emails, and cheered us on. Watching so many people speak up for this Market has been something we’ll carry with us long after the voting ended.

This recognition belongs to the farmers who rise before dawn, the bakers whose ovens are warm while the rest of us sleep, and the makers who bring the work of their hands to Boone each Saturday. It belongs to the staff, volunteers, musicians, and community partners who help make these mornings possible.

And it belongs to all of you.

You come with your baskets, your families, your visiting friends. You ask how the season is going and care about the answer. You make room at your table for what someone here has grown. Over time, a weekly shopping trip becomes a friendship, a tradition, a part of your life.

That is what you helped celebrate with every vote. And that is what you help sustain every time you show up.

For everyone who has ever called this Market your happy place: you have helped make it ours, too.

We’re so proud to be your Market. Thank you for giving us something wonderful to celebrate, together. 💚