By Jason C. Mattox

Organizers of the Panola County Farmers’ Market find themselves in a holding pattern after meeting Tuesday night, according to founder Jennifer Tidwell.

Tidwell said the group is still waiting for confirmation of a location, even after Batesville aldermen voted Tuesday to allow the group to use the area near the tracks on the Downtown Square.

“The city still has a lot of zoning issues they need to get resolved,” she said. “So, we are waiting for that to be resolved.”

In an e-mail Monday afternoon, Tidwell said she wants to know what the city’s level of involvement is going to be before the market can move forward.

“We need to know if they are going to fully fund and manage the market and hire someone to manage it or form a volunteer steering committee,” she said. “Whatever they decide, there will need to be one person in charge of making sure the vendors comply with any guidelines the city puts forth, and collecting any fees that may be required in the future.”

Tidwell said she needed to firm up the group’s structure but would be unable to do so until she received a commitment of some sort from the city.

“I have volunteered to run the market for the first year,” she said.

Tidwell said she and members of the group are now working to recruit growers for the market.

“We are targeting smaller operations that aren’t tied up with other markets,” she said.

Tidwell said during the first year of the market, there will be no fees for vendors.

“We are doing that as a way to get people to stick with it for the first year while we grow the market,” she said. “This is something I would eventually like to add a Wednesday or Thursday sale to.

Any growers interested in participating are urged to contact Tidwell at jltidwell@yahoo.com.

“We want to get the growers that are within a 100 mile radius of Batesville and who are growing their own produce,” she said. “We will be doing farm checks to make sure the items are locally grown or made.

“We are going to have applications for growers, and they will still have to fill those out to be considered,” Tidwell added.

For organizers of the group, the next meeting has not been scheduled.

“We will have a meeting in January, people just need to keep an eye out for the date,” she said.