Farmers Market of Bluffton trolley service to start next week

This story was updated March 14 to reflect that Old Town Trolley Tours of Savannah is the company providing the farmers market shuttle service.

Want to check out the Farmers Market of Bluffton but can’t stand circling Old Town in search of that ever elusive on-street parking space?

Farmers market organizers have a plan to help ease parking and traffic headaches, as well boost the popularity of the weekly event with out-of-town visitors.

The key to that plan is a new trolley service that will allow market-goers to park in the Bluffton Village neighborhood — north of the Promenade and adjacent to the Bluffton Library — and shuttle about a mile south into the heart of Old Town.

The free shuttle will be the same type of “old-timey trolley” ubiquitous in the “Savannah and Charleston historic areas,” market manager Kim Viljac said earlier this week.

Old Town Trolley Tours of Savannah will provide the trolley service from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. every Thursday.

Viljac said she recognizes that offering shuttle service one day a week a is “not a permanent fix (for parking issues) forever,” but it’s a start.

Town leaders agree.

“We have this (concern about) parking all the time, and now we have someone thinking outside the box about it,” Bluffton Mayor Lisa Sulka said earlier this week. “We are trying to find parking solutions and (the farmers market organizers are) trying to be creative about it.”

Viljac said that once word gets around that the market is more accessible, the trolley service will “bring people here to Bluffton who may not come otherwise, like people from the resorts in Hilton Head.”

“I think it's going to boost tourism,” she said.

Tourists are critical to the trolley’s long-term success.

That’s because half of the service’s annual cost of nearly $21,500 will be paid with town accommodations tax funds.

That money comes from a 2 percent tax on overnight lodging collected by the state and redistributed to counties and municipalities. It must be spent on programs that promote tourism and attract visitors.

The remainder of the trolley cost will be paid with corporate sponsorships and other revenue sources such as vendor fees and tent rentals.

Councilman Larry Toomer said making it easier for out-of-towners to get to the farmers market would be a boon for the town’s whole historic district.

“It’s good for the local businesses, not just the actual farmers market,” he said.

“A lot of folks will go buy something at the farmers market and then go have lunch or dinner” at nearby restaurants or do some shopping at Old Town retailers, he said.

Organizers are making final preparations for the launch of the service next Thursday, March 17.

“We have all the insurance in place. We have all the written permissions and all the contracts in line,” Viljac said. “We are ready to press go.”

This story was originally published March 10, 2016 at 10:25 AM with the headline "Farmers Market of Bluffton trolley service to start next week."