If you are anything like me, then right about now is when you start thinking about creative ways to cool off from the intense summer heat. Thankfully around here, we have a beach with plenty to do around it.

We all know, Tybee Island gets peak busy during the summer months. Weekends are plenty full, not only with tourists and visitors flocking to the area, but also those locals looking for an afternoon spot to cool off. Parking can be … a bit … insane. How do you stay ahead of the curve?

Well, you can try visiting on a Monday evening, for starters. You’ll get the same beach fun as those peak weekends, but you’ll also find a different activity, one reserved exclusively for Mondays, only down on Tybee. It’s The Tybee Island Farmers Market.

Steve and Nancy Johnson are a retired couple who thought it would be fun to have a market on the island. Not just fun, necessary.

That was nine seasons ago.

“Nancy handles the website and the promotional stuff,” he says. “I do the physical. We both spend a lot of time setting up every week. We started at the American Legion but outgrew that pretty quickly.”

Within two seasons of rolling out with seven or eight vendors back in 2015, they were in search of a new space. They landed on the grounds of the Historic Tybee Island Lighthouse and Museum. A perfect fit from my seat.

“We are now up to 40 vendors and have a waiting list,” Steve shares. “It’s catching on. At first, mostly locals. We stuck with the basics of a farmers market. Baked goods, jams, jellies … You know, a ‘normal Farmers Market’ thing.”

But the norm is quite different now.

The Tybee Island Farmers Market now includes arts and crafts vendors offering items you will only find at the market. Two spaces weekly are reserved for local nonprofits. Every week there is a different one there. The synergy is near perfect.

“We have loyal locals who have been coming since the beginning,” Steve says. “But we have more and more tourists coming every year. In October we see a lot of snowbirds.”

There is a lot to love about this market, including free parking. There are also food vendors, some offering prepared cuisine. Elena’s Enchanted Kitchen is a Greek themed caterer usually at the market on Mondays. They offer a variety of eats, including souvlaki. I saw it being prepared right in front of me the day I was there. I did not eat it then, but I had tried it before. It is fantastic.

Down the row, freshly baked goods from Le Cafe Gourmet and several other Farmers Market friendly eats. What you won’t find? Food trucks. For the City of Tybee, these are a bit too much and aren’t even allowed on the island.

Trucks or not, during the summertime down here on Tybee, the season creates logjams of people and traffic alike.

“A few times in July it gets so busy down here,” admits Steve. “You can’t move around.”

(Not at all surprising)

Tybee’s Farmers Market has something for everyone; adults and kids can have a blast. Add in the fact you can visit the Lighthouse Museum or climb to the top if you want a better view, and you get a built-in Monday afternoon diversion off the sands of the beach. It doesn’t get much better than that. It has gotten so popular out here, Steve says he fields about three or four calls each week, all from people looking for a space. He has to turn them down, saying the spots are full, for now.

Instead, there is a waitlist to be a part of the fun. Because it is a lot of fun. Fun you can participate in, each Monday (4-7 p.m.), beginning in March and ending in October.

The parking is free if (and it is a big if) you park on the lighthouse grounds, and in that specific parking lot. I am guessing there are three dozen spaces there. The turnover pace in those spaces is quick, especially so during the three hours of Farmer’s Market operations on Monday evenings. If you do not get one of those coveted spots, you will have to park at City of Tybee parking rates.

At $4 per hour, it’s a pricy public parking area compared to other public lots in the area. Still, $4 in exchange for an hour at this market is a small price. Whatever you choose, get out there and enjoy some time in the summer sun. Eat it and like it if you do.

This article appears in Connect Savannah I Best of Savannah.