At this year’s fourth-annual
Eat Local for the Globe event at
Findlay Market, individuals came together to support the market’s civic mission and public goals, but also to appreciate the space and offerings that a public market in downtown Cincinnati brings to the table.
“I look at it as a celebration of Findlay Market—like a party—a real celebration of the market,” says Karen Kahle, director of communications programs for
The Corporation for Findlay Market. “We get folks down here in the evening and they realize it’s safe and fun to hang out around Findlay Market. I think the next phase of the market’s development is getting more people in the neighborhood and getting things open in the evenings so the neighborhood becomes a vibrant place and not one that people feel is unsafe or not welcoming.”
Bringing 70 people to a chef’s table, while offering cocktails and dinner by the bite throughout the area surrounding the market, is one way Findlay is already succeeding. But it’s also doing things like helping new businesses get going by adding full-time vendors to the market,
greening the market and training a new generation of urban farmers how to grow commercially on small, urban lots.
“Four or five years ago, everyone was trying to start farmers markets, and kind of cannibalizing everyone’s farmers. So to guarantee that supply—there were lots of vacant lots in the city—it just made sense to start a program,” Kahle says.
“It’s just great in that it helps the community learn more about how to grow food, and where your food comes from, and it also engages people in actual hands-on learning—how to do it. And then I think just the Elm and Liberty garden—folks stop by there all the time and appreciate having something like that growing in what’s otherwise a pretty blighted neighborhood.”
Through the
Findlay Market Farms! program, the nonprofit has engaged interns and supported individuals while teaching them to direct market sell products.
“About two dozen people have gone through the program, and at last count, I think six of them have continued to have jobs and work in agriculture and growing specialty crops,” Kahle says. “It’s a really great project, and now that we’re going to have a more permanent site, we hope we can build the soil up at that site and continue the project and reach our goal of 50 cents to a dollar per square foot, which would make it self-supporting on an annual basis.”
Do Good:
• Keep up with
Findlay Market events, and attend.
• Support the market's fundraising efforts.
•
Contact Findlay Market if you're interested in volunteering with one of its programs or initiatives.
By Brittany York
Brittany York is a professor of English composition at both the University of Cincinnati and Xavier University. She also edits the For Good section of SoapboxMedia.