Join us Friday August 7th for our “First Friday Cooking Day” with guest Chef Dean McRae. He’ll be featuring dishes made with tomatoes in honor of Tomato Day. Free samples and recipes will be available. Donations are always appreciated to help fund our cooking program. Due to a difficult growing season, we will not have our traditional tomato tasting.
Thanks to a grant from the Twin County Community Foundation, we’ll be combining the August Cooking Day with Healthy Kids Bucks and educational information from our partners at WIC. The first 50 kids to visit the WIC tent will receive $10 of Healthy Kids Bucks to spend ONLY on fresh fruits and vegetables, eggs, and plants and seeds that produce food. This is the last chance for Healthy Kids Bucks this year.
The 4th Friday Evening Market will be August 28 from 3-7pm. There is no Market from 9am to 1pm on the 28th. Enjoy all the regular vendors, 3 Brothers Barbeque, music, and IFM Kids Bucks too. We hope folks who haven’t been able to attend the regular market can come to these evening markets that happen once a month, on the 4th Friday. The regular 9am-1pm market will be replaced by an evening market at Town Park from 3-7pm on these days. The last 4th Friday Market will be September 25.
IFM Kids Bucks are available to the first 20 kids to come to the manager’s tent. They receive $5 of IFM Kids Bucks and can be used to purchase any product at the Market. Kids Bucks are offered all season this year except for the last Frist Friday Cooking Day in August when we offer Healthy Kids Bucks.
The Independence Farmers Market is a proud project of Grayson LandCare, a member of VAFMA and is on the Virginia is for Lovers Farmers Market trail. The On-line and regular Friday Farmers Markets welcome Snap and EBT and offer up to a $30 match for SNAP purchases to buy fresh fruits and vegetables. This grant funding is provided by the Gus Schumaker Nutrition Incentive network and is part of the Virginia Fresh Match program. In addition, we are excited to continue a new program-Fresh Match Plus- that we started late last season. Virginia Fresh Match (VFM) has received a HOPE grant from Wellspring Foundation of Southwest Virginia to support the program. It allows us to offer vouchers for fresh fruits and vegetables for Medicaid, WIC, and Farm Market Fresh users. When customers show their Medicaid, WIC, or Farm Market Fresh cards to Michelle, the IFM manager, at the market booth (in the middle of the Market on the HWY 21 side), they get $10 in vouchers to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables from any vendor selling fresh produce at the market. This is in addition to the current SNAP Match program. The Market also welcomes WIC and Senior Farmers Market coupons.
For more information, please contact Michelle Pridgen, Market Manager at independencefarmersmarket@gmail.com or 276-768-0597.
