The Athens Farmers Market Team
Brian’s family moved to Athens at the end of 2022 from Atlanta to work with Diamond Hill Farm. He spent the past decade working in the live event industry managing music festivals, food focused festivals, and community gatherings of all sizes. After falling in love with farming and the local food movement in 2020, Brian made it his mission to surround his family with a community that values local sustainably grown food. Through this passion for for locally grown food and community centered events Brian’s goal as AFM’s Director is centered around continuing to grow community, growing local small businesses, and advocating for the Athens to strengthen its access to locally grown produce. When he’s away from the market you can find him exploring in nature or gobbling up homecooked meals (made with locally sourced food of course) with his wife Miranda, 4 year old son Wyatt, and 4 month old daughter Florence.
Esther moved to Athens from Atlanta in 2019 and has been a regular at the Athens Farmers Market ever since. She started cooking professionally 12 years ago and in 2022 took on the role as Market Manager. At the market you’ll find her petting pups (and sometimes cats!), collecting tokens, taking pictures and making reels. Outside of the market Esther and her friend, Nik, run a local pop-up called Mouthfeel. In her free time she loves to cook for her friends, go see live music, and spend time with her husband and furbabies!
Maya first joined the market as an intern for FarmRx in 2021. Later that year, they became the AFM Community Coordinator, where they organized weekly kid’s booth activities, which usually involved kids playing with dirt, veggies, sticks, flowers, or earthworms! Since then, they’ve been working at 2 local farms, one, a medicinal herb farm in North Athens, and the other, an organic vegetable farm in Winterville. Beginning this January, Maya will be taking over Monica’s position as FarmRx Manager, where they will organize a cohort of 100 families, the largest the program has ever had. Maya loves food in its every aspect– growing, cooking, sharing, and eating– and is looking forward to celebrating food with everyone at FarmRx!
Athens is a music town, so having music at the market is a natural! Susan started her liaison with the market as a performing musician, and then took over booking performers in 2012. At that time, Susan was already booking music for events with the Athens Folk Music & Dance Society & Athfest. You can also catch her performing at the market with one of her many bands (all Athens musicians are in at least 2!) including The Hobohemians, The Solstice Sisters & String Theory. Playing the market is a joy & she loves giving others the opportunity to connect with their community thru music!
Stephen began volunteering at AFM as a way to get more involved in the Athens food community, and considers it his best decision since moving here! He views his volunteering as a way to give back to Athens, a city near and dear to his heart, and to help support local farmers and vendors. So far his market tasks have included: setting up the sound system, folding T-shirts, schlepping the Big Green Sign, hiding Easter eggs, and replacing contestants' pie slices in the strawberry pie eating contest. He is happy to help, so feel free to flag him down if you need a hand, or to just say hi and give a high five.