Springfield Farmers' Market Resumes in Historic Location

Farmers' market to reopen

By Samantha Sommer
Springfield News-Sun Tuesday, June 03, 2008

Springfield, Ohio — Locally grown food can taste better, help the environment and boost the local economy.
Buying that food at a farmer's market also offers a chance to connect to farmers and friends, said Sherry Chen, one of the co-managers of the Springfield Farmers' Market.
"It's all about community," she said.
The Springfield Farmers' Market kicks off from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, June 7, on Market Street between the Heritage Center and Elderly United.
It will run every Saturday through Sept. 27 and feature a variety of goods and produce.
Items on sale will range from buffalo meat to cucumbers and berries to fresh flowers.
This year the market will feature only produce grown in Ohio, Chen said.
The fruits and vegetables on sale also will change with what's in season.
That means food is picked when it's ripe, Chen said, and isn't treated with chemicals or waxes for a long, fuel-consuming journey.
Buying local food also keeps money here, Chen said, and offers shoppers a chance to talk to producers about how they grow their food.
"Those are the connections people are looking for now and is another reason to get it from the farmers as opposed to a truck that came from 1,000 miles away," she said.
The market also is working on accepting food stamps.
Live music will be featured every week, and some weeks will include food demonstrations. Educational information about preserving farmland and eating seasonal, local food will be on hand.
The Heritage Center bell will be rung to mark the opening of the market, as it did when it was a market, said Gene Barnett, market co-manager.
"When the market opened 110 years ago, they rang it at 4 a.m.," he said. "We're not going to open that early."

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