Edinboro, Oil City and Meadville farmers markets to celebrate networking with open house

Jennie Geisler, Erie Times-News
·2 min read

EDINBORO ― Three farmers markets in the area ― Edinboro Market, Meadville Market House and Core Goods in Oil City ― are hosting an open house on Sunday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., to show off their newly established network of farmers, food producers and market organizations.

In honor of National Farmers Market Week, each store will have several farms and food producers set up to talk with attendees about the items they grow or make. Also, they'll feature food samples, drawings, live music and other activities.

The event is designed to highlight the abundance of food grown on local small-scale diversified farms as well as regionally produced food items, according to Marti Martz, executive director of Edinboro Market.

"There were several producers selling at one or more markets and that took away from time in the field, preparing product," she said.

And that took an inordinate amount of time for farmers to travel to markets all over the region.

"Most of these producers are small-scale, diversified farms that they run, plus have a full-time job," Martz said. The last thing they have time for is to drive around every day to all these different markets."

So the three markets got together to form a network that allowed the farmers to drop off product for all three markets at one location and then market organizers would take the food to the other markets, increasing sales for the producers and varieties for the markets.

They landed a $120,000 grant from America’s Healthy Food Financing Initiative’s (HFFI) Targeted Small Grants Program to allow them to make the changes possible and now they're saying they'll continue to do it even without further grant help, if necessary.

"We just got together (July 25) and decided that," Martz said. "It's been well worth the time and effort."

Find more details about the event and project by visiting www.FindNWPAFood.com.

Find NWPA Food

When: Sunday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Where:

  • Edinboro Market 109 Erie St., Edinboro. Usual hours: Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, 9 am. to 6 p.m.; Saturdays, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.; and Sundays, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Closed Mondays and Tuesdays.

  • Meadville Market House, 910 Market St., Meadville. Usual hours: Tuesdays through Fridays, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m..; Saturdays, 9 am. to 3 p.m.; Sundays 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Closed Mondays.

  • Core Goods, 2 E. First St., Oil City. Usual hours: Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Sundays, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Closed Mondays and Tuesdays.

More: Farmers market season is at its peak with fruits, vegetables and more: Fall is on the way

Contact Jennie Geisler at jgeisler@timesnews.com or at 814-870-1885.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Edinboro, Meadville, Oil City farmers markets create network program