‘A huge relief’: Farmers market secures permanent location after years of struggle

MOORESVILLE, N.C. — After a mayoral election, a town commission vote allowing open-air farmers markets, and years of work finding and paying for a lot, Josh’s Farmers Market is opening a permanent location behind the YMCA on Joe Knox Avenue.

It’s been a long few years for Josh’s Farmers Market owner Joshua Graham.

Zoning laws required his market to find a new location in the town every 120 days. At one point, he says he was given a violation for freshening up gravel, but that strain on his business and its customers is now over.

“It’s just been a huge relief,” Graham told Channel 9’s Eli Brand. “You don’t see stress, but you feel it. The last four or five years have been tough.”

Construction started on the new site Wednesday, and the new location is set to open in early spring 2026.

“They have got a pre-construction meeting today, so it’s moving,” he said.

Graham says the move will allow him to more comfortably run his business and serve the people that use it. The market has been open since 1990, and he says it wouldn’t have survived the last few if it wasn’t for loyal customers.

“If the customer base wasn’t willing to continue to follow us around, there’s nothing convenient about that, but if they were not willing to do that, this wouldn’t have been possible,” he said.

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