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VALLEY — On Saturday, June 21, the Valley Arts Council will host its first-ever weekend market from 7 a.m. till noon EDT at Valley Farmers Market Pavilion near the old Langdale Mill site.

“The first one will be a trial run,” said Arts Council President Suzie Britt. “If it goes well, we’d like to keep doing it on a Saturday every month or maybe even twice a month.”

A total of 25 vendors have committed to the first Saturday Market. They include local artists and crafters along with others who will be selling a variety of items including antiques, baked goods, food flavorings, plants, homemade birdhouses, homemade candles and many other items.

“We’ve been having a farmer’s market at the same site since 2009,” said Valley Council Member Jim Jones. “It’s gone over well for 16 years now. There’s no reason to think a Saturday market won’t go over well, too.”

Vendors will set up tables under the pavilion and under tents located on a grassy area between a sidewalk and the CV Railroad Trail.

Among the vendors will be the area’s able gardener, Milner Letson. Milner was born with a green thumb and loves gardening. He especially likes working with strawberry plants, butterfly bushes and hydrangeas.

Cecelia Lashley, Nora Preston and Melissa Saturday will be selling custom-made jewelry. Jim and David Crowder will be selling birdhouses. Tonya Chambley Harrell will have baked goods. Richard Deal, Carmen Lott and Luis Leiva will have fiber art.

Other local artists include Nancy Harris-Radermacher, Tiffany Driver, Shirley Maddox Moran, Tonyia Cooley, Geana Mitchell, Marsha Thrift, Laura Lawson Morrow and Kira Winston.

Pat Simms will be selling jewelry and copies of “Chattahoochee,” a book written by his brother, Jody Simms. Ann Crowder will be selling both art and books. Connie Kight-Striblin and Amy Cook of the Mountaintop Wreath Company will have bows, wreaths and floral arrangements. June Bird and Michelle Brumfield will have artwork and candles.

Members of Plant City Baptist Church will be there selling high-quality food flavorings.

“This will be the first time the Arts Council has done something like this,” Britt said. “There’s a lot of interest in doing this on the part of the vendors. We hope for good weather and a good turnout. When people driving up and down Highway 29 see all the cars parked at the farmer’s market pavilion and all the tents set up nearby, we think it will stir their curiosity enough for them to stop by to see what’s going on. We are encouraging vendors to make their space look nice with tablecloths and an attractive showplace.”

On the weekend of October 25-26, Valley Arts Council will host its 25th Anniversary Art Show. It will be a judged adult show for local artists in the 18 and older age group. “Since it’s our 25th year as an arts council, we want this to be special,” Britt said.

Britt says she sees the 25th annual adult art show as something like a homecoming. “We have some really good local artists who haven’t been exhibiting for a while,” she said. “We would like to get them back at this upcoming show that will be making our 25th year. We want them to know how much we’ve appreciated them displaying their works in our past shows.”

Council Member Jones is excited about a planned city park in the Fairfax community. Landscape architect Scott Colomb has designed a plan to convert the former Fairfax Mill site into a 17-acre city park that should get lots of use by locals and out-of-town visitors. The first steps toward having this $1.8 million public space have been taken with new sidewalks and benches bordering the area where the work will be taking place. Grants to develop the park are being sought after. The city could provide a match of up to $600,000 with in-kind labor.

Currently, the major project to be handled is a consolidated high school.

“We believe the most important factor in community growth is having a first-rate educational system,” Jones said. “We think that having a new high school and this new park just across from Fairfax Elementary School would be huge assets  in Valley.”