Farmers Markets Celebrate

Farmers Markets Celebrate

Maura Bennett
Maura Bennett
This is National Farmers Market Week.

Colorado's Farmers Markets are participating in the celebrations.

Ben Feldman Policy Director for the Farmers Market Coalition.

"It's a celebration of all the wonderful things that farmers markets do for farmers, for shoppers for communities. It's also no coincidence that it happens in the first week of August, the peak of the season when customers can go out and get the best tomatoes, the best peaches from their local farmers and really enjoy the very visceral experience of food grown locally, how much better it tastes."

You likely have a favorite local market but you can find several options at www.Coloradofarmers.org.

Many markets have special events like tastings, cooking demonstrations from local chefs, gardening workshops, live music, scavenger hunts, giveaways and prizes.

Feldman says farmers benefit from the arrangement

"Farmers who sell directly to the public stay in business longer. They are less likely to experience shifts in the market that they can't control."

Smithsonian says that in July 1806, President Thomas Jefferson bought beef, eggs and assorted vegetables at a Georgetown market. But better roads and refrigeration led to supermarkets and wholesalers, leaving many small farms, and markets, out of the food cycle. The r began after the passage of the Farmer-to-Consumer Direct Marketing Act of 1976.

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