NATCHEZ — The Summer Farmers Market returns to the 100 Block of South Commerce Street by Home Bank on Saturday with fresh produce, baked goods, arts and crafts from local artists, live music and more, organizers said.

The market opens at 8 a.m. Saturday and again from 8 a.m. to noon each Saturday through August or when the food runs out, said Eddie Burkes, farmers market director.

“We’ve got quite a number of produce farmers coming Saturday,” Burkes said, “some with tomatoes, green beans, mushrooms, carrots, butter beans, squash, onions, peas, okra, potatoes, cucumbers and blueberries. We’ll have a wide variety of summer vegetables as well as all of our wonderful arts and crafts makers and those with jams and jellies, baked goods and honey and live entertainment.”

Buddy Miller, who raises fruit trees on Lake St. John and is a long-time participant in the Natchez and Vidalia Farmers Markets, said there is nothing sweeter than to see a child sink his teeth into a fresh ripe peach and watch the juice flow down his face.

“Not only his that child eating healthier than most,” Miller said of feeding children food from the farmers market, “but the money spent on that peach stays in the community to help the farmer who raised it. … You can’t beat the feeling of being able to meet the person who grows your food and knowing they are someone that cares how it was grown.”

Burkes said two benefits bring the farmers market back to Natchez every Saturday.

“The first is it’s the one place you can buy fresh vegetables straight from the farm and eat better,” Burkes said. “Also, when you shop local, that money stays in our community and supports our local farmers and arts and craft vendors. The Saturday market is a great community project that benefits everyone, and it’s also just a fun time to visit with people and enjoy a Saturday morning out and about in Downtown Natchez.”