Pick Tennessee Products Comes to Newport Farmers Market, August 3, 2013
Farmers markets: they’re not just for cities, anymore.
Pick Tennessee Products, the state campaign to help people find local food and other farm direct products, plans to host an event at the Newport Farmers Market on Saturday, August 3rd. The Newport Farmers Market is located at 424 Heritage Boulevard, Newport. Visitors who come out to the Pick Tennessee Products Farmers market day can also take home free recipe cards and have the chance to win a basket of artisan and other popular foods from Tennessee.
There was a time not so long ago that farmers markets were touted mostly as a way to get fresh, local produce into areas where produce wasn’t grown. Farmers trucked the literal fruits of their labors into more densely populated areas to give town dwellers a chance to meet the growers and know as much as possible about where their food was grown. Those who didn’t have ideal options for buying fresh foods within their neighborhoods could get to the farmers market and take home premium produce for the week.
Fact is, it’s at least as hard for the grocery stores in smaller towns to get access to fresh, local produce. Many smaller chain stores are locked into contracts with food distributors bringing in produce from far-off locations. Local, independently owned stores sometimes can’t purchase enough produce at one time to get a competitive price for their customers. Additionally, savvy shoppers are realizing that it’s just plain hard to grow their own produce in a cost effective way: it’s often an economically smarter choice to let a real farmer grow it for them.
Rural farmers markets also provide opportunities for communities to meet together in a casual way and enjoy each other at various activities and special events hosted by the market, much as they did when telephones, newspapers and televisions were not available to keep neighbors in touch with community news and with each other.
