VIDALIA — The Vidalia farmer’s market will have an organizational meeting Friday morning to plan for the upcoming Spring growing season.

The 9 a.m. meeting will be at Vidalia City Hall, and will include discussion of where the market — now in its third year — will be, when it will be open and how long it will remain open, coordinator Larry Chauvin said.

“We want to meet with the growers and see what their wishes are and what their woes are so we can make it a better market than it was in the past,” he said.

Chauvin said the meeting is open to all and the only requirement for participation in the market is that sellers grow their own produce.

“We don’t care how big or how small their operation is, and we don’t charge anything for them to come and set up their booths,” he said. “Last year we had 10 different vendors there, and I am hoping to have that many or more this year.”

Vendors from the Mississippi side of the river are welcome, he said.

“We would like to have an increasing in size of it, expanding and having varieties of different vegetables and fruits people can grow around here,” Chauvin said.

“We want to give the people the advantage of being able to eat healthy.”

When it opens this year, the market will be located in front of the old courthouse on Carter Street in Vidalia. Chauvin said long-term plans include the construction of a building near the new Vidalia municipal complex.

For those who want to contribute to the market — or just want to grow some food for themselves —but don’t have the land to do so, the Vidalia community garden still has space available free of cost, Vidalia Administrative Assistant Glen McGlothin said.

The garden is located near the tennis courts at the Vidalia municipal complex, and has water provided and a shed under which garden users can work.

“They can just come to me and we mark them off a spot that is their little spot until they give it up,” McGlothin said. “We already have people out there plowing and getting ready for the spring.”

The city also has a tiller garden users can utilize, but they have to provide the gasoline to run it. The tiller was bought through a grant, McGlothin said.

For more information about the farmer’s market, contact Chauvin at 601-334-1212.

To learn about participating in the community garden, contact McGlothin at 318-336-5206.