Fields of Promise Dinner Turns Out Big Crowd

By Lee Becker
Market Board Customer Representative

Supporters of the Oconee Farmers Market and of Oconee County’s Future Farmers of America chapters last night filled the seed room at the Thomas cotton gin on Greensboro Highway in south Oconee County for a dinner and fundraising event that lasted more than three hours.

The event, called Fields of Promise Dinner, was sold out, with 200 tickets having been purchased a week in advance of the event.

The Red Oak Southern String Band, a Watkinsville-based group, provided music during the festivities, which included a silent auction of a variety of donated items and a live auction of donated baked good.

Participants bid wildly on the baked goods, with items fetching as much as $100. Emcee Eric Pope urged bidders on, telling them all donations were tax deductible and "could be put in the freezer."

Proceeds from the event, as yet not tallied, will go to a scholarship fund for Oconee County FFA students.

The evening’s events started at 6 p.m. with an invocation by Mark Thomas, local farmer, businessman and member of the Oconee County Board of Education. Thomas made the facilities available for the event.

Dinner By Local Chefs

Participants were served a beef and vegetable dish with a dessert. The food was bought from vendors at the Oconee Farmers Market and prepared by chefs from Chops & Hops, Krimson Cafe, Kumquat Mae Cafe and The Granary, all located in Watkinsville.

“The Oconee Farmers Market board wanted to thank the community for its support of our market by giving back to the community,” Annie Kennedy said in advance of the event. “We hope to cultivate the love of agriculture in future generations.”

Kennedy, one of the six members of the board for the Farmers Market, operates, with her family, Covenant Valley Farms and Gifts in Oglethorpe County.

The Farmers Market is open from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. each Saturday in front of the courthouse in Watkinsville. That market will continue through the end of November.

The board this year launched a Tuesday market, from 4 to 7 p.m. at Watkinsville First Christian Church, 4 N. Main Street, in Watkinsville. No closing date has yet been set for that market.