The seventh season of the
Allen Street Farmers Market has officially begun. Every Wednesday from now until October 27 the market will feature 16 different food, plant and art vendors and a variety of local music at the corner of Kalamazoo and Allen streets in Lansing's
Eastside neighborhood.
The market also features a kids table, a “food and chatter” tent to talk nutrition and recipes and the
Allen Neighborhood Center’s outreach team, who help Lansing residents enroll in health plans, home weatherization programs and food assistance.
The Allen Street Farmers Market began in 2004 and featured four vendors.
“People want to come have conversations with the people who grow their food,” says Joan Nelson, director of the Allen Neighborhood Center. “And farmers are some of the best teachers around.”
The Allen Street Farmers Market has paved the way for what Nelson calls a “movement”: In 2004, it was one of only three farmers markets in Ingham County—now there are 12. In 2005, it became the first farmers market in Michigan to accept
EBT and Bridge cards—now 50 do across the state.
“We forge a partnership between rural farmers and urban communities,” Nelson says. “We provide the venue, they provide the wonderful produce.”
Source: Joan Nelson, Allen Neighborhood Center
Writer: Andy Balaskovitz
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