Waleska's downtown district will see a little bit of life this summer.

The Waleska Farmers Market at Reinhardt University is scheduled to begin operation May 6 and will be open the first Thursday of each month from May until August. The market will be open from 4:30 to 8:30 p.m.

Zach White, a horticulturalist with Reinhardt College and manager of the Waleska market, said the idea came from Waleska's participation in other farmers markets in the area. White is a vendor at markets in Canton and Jasper.

"What I have noticed is that half of the vendors and customers come from the Waleska community," he said. "We really need one here in the Waleska area."

The market, for now, is limited to 15 vendors in the parking lot behind the old Waleska Baptist Church at the corner of Highways 140 and 108.

White said the hope is for the market to be successful so that it can be expanded to include more vendors and move into a bigger parking lot. He said he would eventually like to see students from the college get involved.

"I think it is going to be a success. It is in the north end of Cherokee County. There are a lot of farmers in the area," he said.

White said Waleska could get an injection of activity form the market.

"The Canton farmers market brings in a lot of people," he said. "This can bring people to the Waleska community that have never been here before."

Mayor Doris Jones said the market has the full support of the city of Waleska. She said the city hopes the market will generate some interest in the city's downtown district.

"We're hoping that by people visiting (the market), they will look around and maybe an opportunity will present itself," she said.

White said a farmers market would be welcome in the city, especially with the amount of growth in the Waleska area he has seen since he was a student at the college in the 1990s.

"Waleska has grown. New neighborhoods have popped up," he said. "There are a lot of good-size communities that would love to have a farmers market in their area."

For more information about farmers market, e-mail White at zmw@reinhardt.edu or call his office at (770) 720-5988.