It is ironic to me that in the same edition of The Tidewater News (April 6), there is a negative poll on moving the Farmers’ Market from Armory Drive to Main Street in historic downtown Franklin, and on page A6, an article on the opening of the Farmers’ Market in historic downtown Smithfield in May.

The market in Smithfield has been open and located in downtown Smithfield for at least five years now and is growing more and more popular every year. There is not a &uot;drive-up to the vendor&uot; setup here either. There isn’t even a designated parking area for the market,

but it is crowded every Saturday.

It brings more people into downtown Smithfield and shoppers into the downtown stores and eateries. Isn’t that the goal for downtown Franklin? It isn’t that people won’t come to downtown — look at the number of people who come downtown to Fall Festival, the Easter egg hunt and We Be Jammin’ concerts. This would provide a new attraction and more traffic to a beautiful, historic part of our community. Smithfield’s Farmer’s Market is only open on Saturdays in the spring and summer

— Franklin’s would be open year round.

It would be a definite plus to the city, the downtown businesses, and the vendors to have a nice covered facility to buy and sell produce, canned pickles, preserves and various arts and crafts. I, for one, would love to see this become a reality.

Linda Smith

Franklin