PROVIDENCE – With forecasters predicting summer-like temperatures for the coming weekend, another sign of the season is arriving as farmers’ markets begin opening across Rhode Island next week.

The first summer farmers’ markets to open this year will start on Friday, May 1, and both are located in state parks, according to the R.I. Department of Environmental Management (DEM) and Farm Fresh Rhode Island, a five-year-old nonprofit group that supports the local food industry.

Farming, particularly on a small scale, has been growing at a fast clip in Rhode Island. From 2002 to 2007, the total number of farms in the state grew by 42 percent, while crop and livestock sales rose by 18 percent, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Farmers markets have thrived in Rhode Island in recent years, according to Noah Fulmer, founder and executive director of Farm Fresh. He said more than 40 markets are expected to be open this summer, up from around 38 last year. Interest is up this year partly because of the Wintertime Farmers’ Market that has drawn more than 1,000 people to Pawtucket’s Hope Artiste Village on recent Saturdays, he said.

“For the first time in decades there's been a true marketplace during the winter and spring for local food in Rhode Island,” Fulmer said in an e-mail. “Its success is translating into growth for local agricultural businesses, as well as increased excitement about markets re-opening this summer.”

Starting May 1, the Goddard Memorial State Park Farmers’ Market in Warwick will be open on Fridays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., and the Colt State Park Farmers’ Market in Bristol also will be open Fridays, from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.

In their first few weeks of operation, the markets will offer mostly bedding plants, hanging plants, cut flowers, early vegetable crops, honey, and maple syrup, DEM said. More vendors will join with traditional summer crops as they are harvested.

The next day – Saturday, May 2 – the University of Rhode Island Farmers’ Market will open from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the Keaney Sports Complex Parking Lot at Keany Rd. and Rt. 138, and the Scituate Farmers’ Market will open from 9 a.m. to noon at the Scituate Art Festival Grounds on the Village Green at West Greenville Rd. and Silk Lane in North Scituate.

And on Sunday, May 3, the Fishermen’s Memorial State Park Farmers’ Market will open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 1011 Point Judith Rd. in Narragansett.

Later in May, markets are scheduled to open in Barrington, Cranston, Harrisville, Richmond, and Wakefield, with more to follow in June and July.

“I don't remember another year when so many Rhode Islanders have been talking about local food in the middle of March and April,” Fulmer said.

Directories of farmers’ markets in the area are available at FarmFresh.org, www.dem.ri.gov, and MassFarmersMarkets.org.