Halifax County commissioners today agreed to appropriate $3,000 to the Roanoke Valley Farmers Market to help with operational expenses this year.

In approving the request made by county Cooperative Extension Director Arthur Whitehead, board Chair James Pierce asked him to come up with a budget plan for the upcoming fiscal year and find more ways to promote the market.

Included in Whitehead’s request was one to have the county Operations Department make repairs to gutters, paint the inside and outside of the market, replace fencing and picnic tables and remove an old mobile home behind the market. The request also included taking down a wall inside the market, which is located off Highway 158 in Roanoke Rapids.

Whitehead described these problems as issues for people who come to the market to buy produce and that vendor fees were not enough to pay the cost of operations.

Typically, County Manager Tony Brown said, this would be a request during budget deliberations for the upcoming fiscal year but since the market opens the first weekend in May, there would not have been enough time.

Pierce said the request should have been addressed in deliberations for the current budget year.

“We felt like we needed to come to you because we don’t have the funds in our budget,” Whitehead said.

Wade Hockaday, who was in the audience, was allowed to address his concerns about the market and suggested that the market needs to be open more than just two days a week. “Why can’t it be open on Fridays and let people with yard sales have a spot?”

Whitehead said nothing shows adding another day would bring more people to the market. “Saturday has been the traditional day for buying vegetables.”

He also noted there will be a farmer’s market on Mondays at the plaza at Kirkwood Adams in Roanoke Rapids. Times are 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.

The market will open on Highway 158 on Wednesdays from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.