Where to Go and What to Get Around the Upstate

Greenwood Uptown Market

If ever you find yourself in need of some community love, fresh foods and good old Southern charm, you better also find yourself heading to Greenwood’s Uptown Market. The market has received a facelift with the completion of the brand-new, beautiful Uptown Market Pavilion that is open and airy and long enough to house all of your market needs. Local vendors meet here Wednesday afternoons and Saturday mornings to foster their community and to share their amazing products with their friends.

While Wednesdays are technically slower days in Greenwood, it is hard to tell because of the enthusiasm rolling off everyone present. When we attended the market, the greatest joy was watching the locals make a beeline to the Piedmont Tech horticulture booth that was covered in beautiful flowers and massive heads of cabbage, and then listening as everyone pleaded with the students and professors to make their way back the next week.

Piedmont Tech was a great addition to the regular vendors like Putney Farms who bring their beautiful Rainbow eggs, The Lazy Farmer with their rabbit meat and fresh vegetables, and Possum Kingdom Creamery’s goat milk and cheeses (who also brought a guest farmer along who is new to the area and wanted to learn a little about the community). There were delicious, ready-to-eat goodies from Grits & Groceries. And the unforgettable friend we made in Paige from Breezy Quarters, who has been making and selling soaps and other yummy smelling products at markets for years, and is now taking her works to boutiques around the area.

Perhaps the most important part of the Uptown Market is to bring your kids and bathing suits, because steps away from the pavilion is a brand new interactive fountain that you absolutely cannot miss.

Greenwood Uptown Market
220 Maxwell Avenue
Greenwood
Wednesdays, 10am-2pm
Saturdays, 8am-12pm
www.uptowngreenwood.com/uptown-market

Cherokee Foothills Organic Farmers Market

There’s nothing like the drive to this market along Highway 11, with the mountains rising up and the wildlife surrounding you. In fact, if it weren’t for the giant pumpkin beside the road, you might just miss your turn into the Pumpkintown Mountain Opry and miss your chance to meet with some of the region’s friendliest organic farmers.

Farmers like those at Bare Bottom Farms with their fresh produce and complementary sunflowers who show up with their giant fluffy poodle, certainly the best salesman out there. You can also catch the familiar faces at Satterfield Farms, bringing their beef all the way from Taylors.

After the grand opening on June 4, this completely organic market has continued to expand and gain more and more vendors. They are conveniently open from 1-7pm every Saturday so as not to conflict with other markets around the Upstate. This also allows plenty of time to head over after a hike or a picnic at one of the nearby state parks.

The market still has growing to do, with just a couple months under their belts, but they are well on their way. Those organizing and those selling share a desire to bring community together to celebrate clean, delicious, fresh foods as well as intricately made crafts.

Also keep your eye out for their community garden that is in the works.

Cherokee Foothills Organic Farmers Market
Pumpkintown Mountain Opry
Pickens
Saturdays, 1-7pm
www.omgrownus.wixsite.com/mysite