Calder Harris of Musella-based Dickey Farms has been selling peaches at the Mulberry Street Market in downtown Macon for three months.

He said it has been time well spent.

The number of vendors at the market has more than doubled -- from 11 when it began in April to 26 at present -- coming from as far away as Hancock County.

Customer traffic has been “consistent,” Harris said. “We have done the same number of sales and served the same number of people each week.”

And now the market is taking additional steps to lure more traffic.

This week, organizers officially began accepting credit, debit and Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards. Patrons swipe their cards at the Community Health Works table to get coupons that a majority of the vendors accept as payment.

The new option was helpful for Mechel McKinley, who found out that her ATM machine was temporarily out of order.

“So I thought, you know what, I’ll just go for it,” McKinley said Wednesday as she walked to the market. She was pleased to find out she could pay with her card and said it will make things easier for her. “So if I’m leaving work and I don’t have time between coming here and going to pick my son up from day care, it just makes it easier for me to run down here without having to make an extra stop.”

The cards can be used from 4-7 p.m. during the day of the market.

The payment option is now also available to patrons at International City Farmers Market in Warner Robins from 2-6 p.m. Thursday, the day the market is held.

Through a grant from Wholesome Wave Georgia, people using EBT cards as part of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program will receive double value for every dollar token at both farmers markets, according to Tripp Eldridge of Community Health Works, one of the Macon market’s organizers along with Macon Roots and the Macon Main Street Initiative.

Not all vendors accept the tokens, however. One of the drawbacks for the vendors is a weeklong wait for reimbursement. But most of the vendors accept the tokens, according to organizers.

“It’s up to them right now,” Eldridge said. “It’ll be in the rules next year.”

Macon market organizers and vendors are planning to have more entertainment and education programs in the weeks ahead, such as more concerts, chef demonstrations, crafts and children-focused activities.

“We will be announcing an events calendar probably in the next week or so,” said Naomi Davis, from Davis Farms in Roberta.

Organizers hope the upcoming events will bring a more community environment to the market. “We are finding that people come to the market, they breeze through very quickly, buy something that they think they want, and then they leave. There is no incentive for them to stay for a prolonged period of time and really enjoy the community aspect of the market, and really kind of immerse themselves in it for an hour or more,” Eldridge said. “So we are going to try to provide those opportunities where it’s a nice place to just be.”

Organizers are also exploring options to help the farmers sell more of their goods. They are in talks with representatives from area public schools and churches to distribute the vegetables in “creative ways,” Eldridge said. One of the initiatives being explored is farm to school programs, which would include school breakfast and lunch menus featuring fresh, local fruits, vegetables and meats.

Angel Collins and her husband have been coming to the market for their grocery needs since the first week and “love it,” she said. “We only go to the grocery store for things like toothpaste and stuff like that now.”

Collins said eating the local produce from the market “means that we are one step closer to being healthier,” as food at the market features no hormones, grass-fed meats and “vegetables grown organically or over a well-watched farm. You have that choice now,” Collins said.

To contact writer Manu Bhandari, call 744-4331.