News

By Mary Thurwachter

    Local greenmarket aficionados won’t have to wait for the weekend to shop for homegrown veggies, fruits and flowers. Beginning in November, Lantana’s Bicentennial Park will be home to the newest greenmarket in the county.
    The Lantana Town Council gave two big green thumbs up to the plan, bringing the event to the park each Wednesday from 2 p.m. to sunset. The market will have about 20 booths.
    “People will come shop and stroll and then likely head over to the Old Key Lime House or another restaurant on Ocean Avenue for dinner,” said Jason Hershin, a representative of Whoduz Inc., the company putting on the event. He said the company didn’t want to have the event on weekends because there would be too much competition.
    The company agreed to the town’s rules: No driving or parking on the grass; no smoking on site; no stakes in the ground; loading and unloading on concrete only, parking restrictions and setup times.
    Whoduz agreed to pay a $500 security deposit, make arrangements for event logistics such as vendor and customer parking and lighting at the park.
    “Will you pick up any garbage before you leave?” asked council member Ed Shropshire.”
    “We will leave it as we found it,” Hershin agreed.
    “This market goes hand-in-hand with our small-town approach to family and it gets thumbs up from me,” said resident Lyn Tate.  “I think we have a population that would enjoy a mid-week market and early dinner. It sounds like the company will take the necessary precautions as to not disturb our park’s grass and they seemed to be ready to fix anything that may be disturbed holding the market at Bicentennial Park.”