Pete Rodman/Daily News(From Left)Donald Gilreath, of Glasgow, Ky., Jessica Mattingly, of Austin, Ky., and Emily Diller, of Glasgow, Ky., package cheese for Kenny's Farmhouse Cheese on Tuesday at their warehouse in Austin, Ky. Kenny's is a vendor at the Sky Farmers Market, on the corner of High Street and 5th Avenue in the Medical Center campus in Bowling Green.

Bowling Green residents this month will see the move of one farmers market to a slightly new location and the addition of another market.

The Southern Kentucky Regional Farmers Market will open Saturday at Fifth Avenue and High Street on the campus of The Medical Center.

The following weekend, the new Community Farmers Market will open in the parking area in front of Western Kentucky University’s Innovation and Commercialization Center at Campbell Lane and Nashville Road. The Original Bowling Green Farmers Market opened last weekend in front of Hobby Lobby.

Kenny Mattingly, owner of Kenny’s Farmhouse Cheese, was busy making cheese this week, knowing that some of it will end up at the 18 farmers markets that he or his family members participate in. His cheese will be at both the SKY and the Community farmers markets.

“About 18 to 20 percent of our cheese is sold in farmers markets,” Mattingly said. “It’s a good place to start your marketing and you build your relationships. You get to know your consumers and they get to trust their producers, and if they like your product, they tell restaurants and other people.”

Mattingly said farmers markets in Louisville have helped him get into restaurants in that area.

“But the Bowling Green restaurant scene has been pretty hard to break into,” he said. “I don’t know any that really value local food.”

Increasing awareness and raising the value of local food are goals of Community Farmers Market organizers, according to Michelle Howell.

“It’s been a vision of my husband, Nathan, and I for a long time for our own family, as far as creating a place where people can come and learn,” Howell said of their Need More Acres farm.

Members of the Community Farmers Market, in addition to participating in the twice weekly sales, may opt to open their farms to the public so people can visit and learn farming techniques. Members also will help install a community garden at the Foundry, a Christian-based community center in the former Boys & Girls Club.

The Community Farmers Market, when vegetables are in season, will ask members and residents to donate excess produce for distribution through various programs in the community.

Martin Stone, who has a variety of plants and eventually blueberries and blackberries, said he will participate in both the SKY and the Community farmers markets since they are both producer-only markets.

“We decided we would like to form a new market in a part of town that is ill-served for fresh food,” Stone said. “So we gathered up our courage and resources and plunged ahead with it. I think it will be a success.”

At first it’s expected that crafts, jewelry, potatoes and compost will be among the available items for sale at the old mall when the market opens April 16.

But several members of the SKY market have those wind tunnels, including Joe O’Daniel.

O’Daniel has been with SKY since it opened eight years ago. He said the SKY market had the opportunity to move to the old Bowling Green Mall when it needed to move because of the helicopter pad addition to The Medical Center.

“But our members took a vote and chose to stay here,” he said.

SKY market inspector Laura Goodwin said the location is bicycle- and walker-friendly and promotes the kind of leisurely atmosphere they would like to encourage.

Goodwin said the market Saturday will include a variety of products, including hanging baskets, bedding plants, vegetable transplants, several cold crop vegetables, baked goods, dog biscuits and other items. As the weather warms, there will be more of a variety.

O’Daniel has a good variety of things, but said his acres of asparagus are not yet ready for market.

This year the SKY market will have some new members, including the Garich Family Farm in Barren County, which has hydroponic strawberries from May to October. Lee Hinkle of Quality Nursery, also a new vendor, will sell trees and landscape plants.

At the Community Farmers Market, Heather Vernon said she will have herbs and compost for sale and vegetables later on.

“We have had a garden for several years and had a lot of excess, so we decided to sell at the market,” she said.

The idea behind both markets is that those selling the products must have grown or made them themselves.

“We take a lot of pride in supporting small farms and putting money directly into the local economy,” Goodwin said.

There are 42 members of the SKY market, while the other market has about 15 so far.

The SKY market opens from 7 a.m to noon Saturday at Fifth Avenue and High Street on The Medical Center campus and from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday.

Community Farmers Market will open April 16 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. It will then be open from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Saturdays and Tuesdays.

The Original Farmers Market is open Saturdays, Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6 a.m. until items are sold out.

— For more information, go to www.skyfarmersmarket.com, www.communityfarmersmarketbg.com, kennyscountrycheese.com or bgfarmersmarket.com.