Last week, CFA staff and board had a great time visiting our local (and not so local!) farmers markets for National Farmers Market Week (NFMW). This is a week, every year, when we get to show up at markets across Kentucky to say “Thank you!” to the farmers who grow our food, and to the communities that gather every week to buy it.
This year, our team crisscrossed the state for NFMW, from the mountains of Knott, Perry, and Breathitt counties to the Bluegrass markets in Clark, Fayette, Franklin, Hardin, Madison, and Mercer counties, down to Bowling Green and Glasgow, and out to Henderson, Hopkins, and Webster counties in the west. What we found everywhere was the same thing: farmers markets are so much more than a place to buy produce. Farmer Markets build COMMUNITY.
Through Kentucky Double Dollars and FreshRx for Families, CFA helps to make sure a trip to the farmers market is within reach for every family, not just some. This week alone, our team visited markets running produce vouchers for people managing diabetes, market bucks for kids, food bags for families, and Farm to Table dinners that put local farmers’ harvests on the table in a whole new way. These programs are proof of what’s possible when a market and its farmers work together to serve the whole community, and oftentimes contribute to building community in the process.
As Sarah Reeber of Oak and Barrel Meats in Washington County put it: “The farmers market builds a community of farmers and recurring customers. I offer online sales, however nothing beats interacting with your customers in person — getting to see and talk with them weekly.” We saw that same spirit in Franklin County, where the Jackson family sold at their very first market this year — with young James working the crowd on a chant of “Big value, small prices!”
In Knott County, market manager Ande Newsome told us she loves the market because of “the community it has created; people coming together every week to catch up with friends and neighbors, share stories, and buy their white half runners.” Their pavilion has gotten so popular it can barely hold all the vendors anymore. In Perry County, FoodCorps members set up a card-making station so kids could thank their favorite farmers, including one young customer named Ruby, whose favorite purchase is “little tomatoes with Carrot Cash from Farmer Andee” (though her real favorite, she admitted, is Farmer Andee’s cookies). And in Hardin County, a Wednesday market drew a steady stream of families from 9:30 a.m. on, plus free ice cream for every visitor.
Through FreshRx for Families in Franklin County, a grandmother told our team her daughter and five grandchildren look forward to the market every single week, and that with recent food safety concerns in the news, being able to buy directly from Kentucky farmers gives her family both financial relief and peace of mind. It’s one way farmers markets can include the whole community. In Clark County, they participate in a gleaning program, letting those who frequent food banks have access the local, healthy nutritious food too. As Community Farmers Market in Bowling Green says “It’s more than just a farmers market.”
That’s what National Farmers Market Week means to us: farmers building something to be proud of, families finding fresh food they can count on, and neighbors turning a Tuesday evening or a Saturday morning into something worth showing up for. Thank you to every market, manager, farmer, and shopper who made this week, and every week, possible.
Join our community at CFA, where we strive to support farmers and communities.