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Vendor upset at Columbia farmers market rule

Flickr
/
Natalie Maynor

A Columbia farmers market flap highlights the challenges of ensuring that products labeled as locally-grown are the real thing.

Wilson's Garden Center owner Chuck Bay says he was kicked out of the popular Columbia Farmers Market for violating the market's vendor rules.

Bay says the board of directors flagged his stand for selling starter plants that had been purchased at a wholesale produce market in the Morgan County town of Versailles. He calls the market's rules on such products vague and says the board resents that he also participates in a competing farmers market that has less restrictive rules.

Board members say the rules are clear: vendors must grow their own products.

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