Riel Roussopoulos
Local programs fund Farmer’s Market vouchers
Tom Fagan sells flowering plants at the River City Farmer’s Market this spring in Marietta. (Photo by Janelle Patterson)
Through use of local grant dollars two programs are putting money in the hands of local farm vendors at the River City Farmer’s Market.
GoPacks, a family nutrition and food security nonprofit, and the Ohio State University Extension office have both invested Marietta College Nonprofits LEAD funding into the market in the form of vouchers.
Last week, the first of four weekends of family food vouchers were spent by participating families.
“We had a lady that bought pepper plants on the vouchers Saturday. I figured if somebody is willing to spend their voucher money on a plant to grow more food, I’m all for that. That is effort on their part,” said the market’s president Tom Fagan, who also runs a vendor booth with his wife Kate posted at the entrance into the Marietta Municipal Court parking lot from Butler Street.
But this weekend, $5 coupons are open to the first 300 participants in an OSU Extension needs assessment, also funded by the Marietta College program.
“The mission of OSU Extension is to try to address the needs and improve the lives of Ohioans, and how do we know what programs people need and want if we don’t ask?” explained Marcus McCartney, extension educator.
So with the award of the Marietta College grant, he’s asking for any patron or attendee of the market to come participate in a three- to four-minute survey and walk away with a coupon good for up to $5 worth of product from any market vendor.
“Saturday anytime you come up to my booth I’ll have a survey there, l give you a coupon worth $5 and it’s no restrictions. You can spend that money on any vendor’s food or crafts,” said McCartney. “Then with this information I’ll also share (the results) with the organizations I partner with too so that we can better combine our resources and address those needs and be effective (because) the whole point of this is to identify what would be beneficial, worth their time, worth their money, what will people implement into their lives that’s fulfilling? So then we can identify topics and issues that are ‘needs’ and then address those needs through programs, workshops or literature.”
Results, he expects, would be available in July, if all 300 surveys are completed this weekend.
“And I will have an additional page just focusing on the customer’s perspective of the farmer’s market that follows last summer where I surveyed the vendors and the local businesses.,” he noted.
For vendors, no money will be doled out to customers if they purchase items worth less than $5 with the coupon.
“Then what the vendors will do at the end of the day is they come up to my booth after the market closes and if they have 20 coupons, I give them $100,” said McCartney. “With $1,500 rolling through the market, it’d be silly not to accept it, but this is a voluntary program and I didn’t have any vendor saying that they’re not going to participate.”
Note: For families participating in the GoPacks voucher program, this $5 coupon is an additional spend on to the $10 vouchers for food for the participating families.
“It is a great tool, and I think it’s good if you’re going to give someone something, that it goes toward a goal. This is specific. I feel like that aspect is awesome,” said Fagan. “It’s bringing people down to the market who maybe wouldn’t have come anyway and over the course of time it could give them a wider exposure to great stuff. I think most people when they think of a farmer’s market they only think of fresh produce, which is the main theme. But one of the things that we have that’s unique is bison, and you’ve got milk. You don’t think of those at a farmer’s market. I feel like the goal of the market is to be able to provide the necessities of life except for maybe toilet paper.”
The market opens at 8 a.m. on the 200 block of Butler Street. Parking is free in the Parking Partners lot on Second Street and in the Marietta College Physican’s Assistant lot on Third Street.
Published at Tue, 08 Jun 2021 00:00:00 +0000
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