Local Food Forum subscribers… I am planning our coverage for Farmers Market Week (August 1-7). and I really, really need your input on the following:
Based on your experiences with farmers markets and/or CSAs and your personal food shopping, is the resurgent interest in local food (sparked by the pandemic) continuing?
CSA sales and personal food shopping have slumped, but not all the way back down to pre-pandemic levels. We are considering putting together a summit to discuss these issues and how do we hold on to the market growth that happened over the last year.
Yes! And it must remain so! I know it's a small campaign currently, but I REALLY hope the B2G1 movement (supporting Love Fridges) grows exponentially in the future. B2G1 is buy two, give one. The local farmers deserve their time back with supportive local food movement customers AND they'll sell more produce if we keep uplifting access and the importance of local fresh organically grown food for all.
Bob, my experience is almost exclusively with the Downtown Evanston Farmers Market, and it remains quite busy. It hit the ground running in May with about double the visitors it had last season. (And you will recall, for more than a month the DEFM was the only market in Chicagoland.)
Yesterday, I visited the Glenwood Sunday Market. It moved from its location alongside the Morse El stop to a nice lot on Pratt, just a couple of blocks from the lake. They indicated to me that they see around a thousand people per market, and they are dealing with the fact that many people don't know they moved (as opposed to shutting down).
Small sample size, I know, but it suggests that farmers markets are still viable, even though there is so much competition in the city and surrounding suburbs.
CSA sales and personal food shopping have slumped, but not all the way back down to pre-pandemic levels. We are considering putting together a summit to discuss these issues and how do we hold on to the market growth that happened over the last year.
Yes! And it must remain so! I know it's a small campaign currently, but I REALLY hope the B2G1 movement (supporting Love Fridges) grows exponentially in the future. B2G1 is buy two, give one. The local farmers deserve their time back with supportive local food movement customers AND they'll sell more produce if we keep uplifting access and the importance of local fresh organically grown food for all.
Bob, my experience is almost exclusively with the Downtown Evanston Farmers Market, and it remains quite busy. It hit the ground running in May with about double the visitors it had last season. (And you will recall, for more than a month the DEFM was the only market in Chicagoland.)
Yesterday, I visited the Glenwood Sunday Market. It moved from its location alongside the Morse El stop to a nice lot on Pratt, just a couple of blocks from the lake. They indicated to me that they see around a thousand people per market, and they are dealing with the fact that many people don't know they moved (as opposed to shutting down).
Small sample size, I know, but it suggests that farmers markets are still viable, even though there is so much competition in the city and surrounding suburbs.