The University hosted an on-Grounds farmers market Monday in the Amphitheatre to kick off Earth Week festivities. Earth Week is a University tradition in which members of the community are invited to participate in celebrating the planet and in promoting sustainability. The farmers market was coordinated by the University’s Office for Sustainability and incorporated local vendors from all over Charlottesville.
Samantha Jameson, the sustainability coordinator of U.Va. Dining, was the head organizer of the farmers market.
“[The farmers market] is in partnership with the [University] Office for Sustainability, and University Programs Council helped,” Jameson said. “Greens to Grounds has their Produce Party every year and they, thankfully, attached all of their event coordination, marketing and produce partying to this event, which helps enormously. So it’s been a huge collaborative effort.”
Greens to Grounds, a student-run non-profit, is a modified Community Supported Agriculture model, which is a system where consumers get fresh, seasonal products on a continual basis directly from local farmers and businesses. Greens to Grounds ran a table at the event with local produce for its Produce Party. Second-year College student Ellis Champion, worked at the farmers market with Greens to Grounds.
“It [was] crazy successful,” Champion said. “We ran out of strawberries in the first 30 minutes. People are going crazy for the local produce, and I think that shows there’s not enough of it on Grounds because they’re really excited when it’s here.”
In addition to fresh produce, the farmers market also had vendors that sold kimchi, coffee, desserts, pastries and more. Some businesses represented were Sussex Farms, Family Ties & Pies, Wonderment Bakeshop & Creamery and LUMI Juice.
Mad Hatter Foods, a hot sauce company, was represented by Sean Wallace at the farmers market.
“We’ve been around for about five years, and we’re a local company that started out as a small company,” Wallace said. “We actually ran the company through the iLab at the Darden school, and did a lot of research there.”
The Office for Sustainability strove to incorporate local businesses and to promote sustainability with their partners for this farmers market event. Vendors felt that this was an event with strong community support.
“The University came to us and said ‘hey, we’re doing this whole local sustainability thing, and we’d love to bring you guys on board,’” Wallace said. “We’ve had great support from the University.”
Mad Hatter sauce can be found around Grounds, as it has had contracts with the University in the past.
“We sell it at Burrito Theory and over at the Art Café,” Wallace said. “They have a Mad Hatter Quesadilla. We grow all of our red savina habaneros here in Albemarle County.”
Jameson said students were pleased by the options offered at the event, which they were able to use their plus dollars to pay for.
“My favorite part is seeing the reactions of students,” Jameson said. “At [U.Va.] Dining, we are committed to sustainability, but being able to bring all of the amazing things that happen in Charlottesville to … Grounds has been sort of a dream come true.”
Second-year College student Alyzeh Umerani, was passing by when she saw the amphitheater full of tents and people. Umerani said she was intrigued by the food and learned that it was Earth Week by attending.
“Everyone is really friendly here, and they’re all Charlottesville-made products, so it’s cool to see that they are coming from this area,” Umerani said. “Now I’m excited [for Earth Week].”
This year’s farmers market was the kickoff to Earth Week, and events will continue to be held until the end of the week.
“We’ve got a whole bunch more partner events and food-related things,” Jameson said. “We’ve got a Farm-to-Fork meal at O’Hill on Thursday for lunch. I think a big part of my job is trying to increase sustainability and transparency in [U.Va.] Dining, and I feel like this is a really good start.”
U.Va. Dining hopes to hold a farmers market every semester in the future.
“We’ve gotten such an overwhelmingly positive response that we’d like to continue this,” Jameson said.
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