dining in
if you go: For more inFormation on Homegrown alabama, visit www. Homegrownalabama.ua.edu or Follow tHe market on social media. canterbury cHapel episcopal cHurcH and student center is at 812 FiFtH ave. in tuscaloosa.
TOP: An employee of Snow’s Bend Farm restocks pints of strawberries at the farmers market. ABOVE: Customers browse through the market tents.
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on-campus so that students and professors could literally walk from class or their dorm to the market,” Morrison said. “And we wanted it on a weeknight afternoon or evening, partly because we knew students were not going to be up and at ’em at 7 a.m. on a Saturday.” Morrison and Mabry said the organization hoped to host the market on the UA Quad. That wasn’t an option because the university didn’t want farmers pulling their trucks onto the grass, Morrison said. “I was pretty naïve — so naïve, in fact, that after receiving a ‘no’ for having it on the Quad, I had what I thought was a lightbulb moment: It should be held at the front of the stadium on the Walk of Champions,” she said. Morrison said she met with Mal Moore, UA’s director of athletics at the time, to talk about “my brilliant idea.” Moore turned her down but “was as polite and kind as could be,” she said. The group had almost given up on having an on-campus market when Canterbury Chapel came to the rescue. Although Morrison doesn’t remember the name of the church official who threw Homegrown Alabama a lifeline, she said she’ll always be thankful for his help. “It was like he was a complete godsend,” she said. “He pretty much said, ‘So you guys need a place for your market? How about our church’s lawn? We don’t mind if the grass gets torn up a bit. It will be great!’ I, for one, was very grateful to him and that whole church for their generosity in sharing their space with Homegrown Alabama.” Mabry said the university’s support was crucial, too. “The market has always had a minimal vendors’ fee, and it could support itself if you were to have a totally bare-bones