Old Town Farmers Market to host kickoff for Ag+Art Tour in June

ROCK HILL – The Old Town Farmers Market will host the local “kickoff event” for this year’s Ag+Art York County Tour on June 9.

Each weekend in June, farm sites in counties across South Carolina will host a Ag + Art Tour. The nine counties participating this year are Chesterfield, Darlington, and Horry (June 4-5); Lancaster and York (June 11-12); Fairfield and Kershaw (June 18-19); and Chester and Union (June 25-26). On Saturdays, visitors will be able to stop by farms and farm stands from 9 am to 5 pm, and on Sundays, from 1 - 5 pm.

The South Carolina Ag + Art Tour is the nation’s largest, free, self-guided farm tour, designed to generate interest in local farms, fresh foods, and locally made traditional arts.

Each participating county will host kickoff events before the tour. The Ag + Art Tour of York County is June 9, at the Old Town Farmers Market, adjacent to Fountain Park, 300 E. Main St., in Rock Hill, 5 to 8 pm. Old Town Farmers Market is Rock Hill’s only all-local market, featuring fresh, seasonal produce, farm products and handmade goods.

This year, the Ag + Art Tour of York County includes 19 farms and farm stands and more than 20 artisans, including painters, potters, quilters, sewers, musicians, fabric artists and storytellers, according to organizers.

Chef Ed Currie, of PuckerButt Pepper Company, will be a guest speaker for the kickoff. Currie will speak from 5:30 – 6: pm, discussing how he came to grow peppers and be recognized in the 2013 Guinness World Record for the world’s hottest chili pepper. He will also have pepper creations available for sampling.

This story was originally published May 21, 2016 at 11:07 PM with the headline "Old Town Farmers Market to host kickoff for Ag+Art Tour in June."