Downtown Jefferson City's effort to nurture access to locally-grown foods will leave the ground this week, as a series of community workshops Tuesday and Wednesday will kick off downtown's participation in the Local Foods, Local Places program.
The program selected downtown Jefferson City as one of 26 U.S. communities to benefit from federal help improving access to fresh, healthy food that is locally-produced and revitalizing business districts while boosting economic opportunities for local farmers and businesses. The Local Foods, Local Places initiative is a joint effort of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Department of Transportation, Appalachian Regional Commission, Delta Regional Authority and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
This week's workshops, led by EPA contractors who specialize in community planning and related fields, will gather community members with an interest in the local food system to form a collaborative action plan for a permanent farmers market site in downtown Jefferson City.
"I think the important thing is going to be to have all of these people in the room to have that discussion: How can we work together to strengthen the local food system as a whole in Jefferson City?" said Stephanie Bell, Downtown Association president. "Anything downtown does, we want to be adding to and strengthening the whole rather than just trying to reinvent the wheel or interfere with what's already happening."
Downtown Jefferson City welcomed the Lincoln University Farmers Market to the 200 block of Madison Street in May 2014 when its regular Chestnut Street location became unavailable due to other LU events. The LU market opened back at Chestnut Street this year, but will return to the downtown area in May - in front of the Governor's Mansion this coming Saturday, May 2, during the Shelbyfest event, and on Madison Street the following Saturdays. The market will return to Chestnut Street in June.
A primary goal of downtown Jefferson City's Local Foods, Local Places initiative is to create a successful, vibrant farmers market to increase opportunities for local farmers, as well as market sales, visitors and vendors. This week's workshops will work to develop criteria and weigh options for a permanent downtown site for the Lincoln University Farmers Market.
"If we're going to work toward that, it gives us an idea of: where would the appropriate place for that be, how does that work, and how has it worked in other communities?" Bell said. "That's one of the main things these people are going to be bringing to Jefferson City - best practices from other communities."
Additional goals of the workshops are to coordinate efforts between existing regional farmers markets and to explore other ways to increase downtown access to fresh foods.
"The whole program is about revitalizations of core areas. The focus is definitely on downtown, but obviously to the extent downtown would want to do anything we'd need input from the other markets because we wouldn't want to do anything that would conflict with what they were doing."
Potential stakeholders who have been invited to send representatives to the workshops include regional farmers and agriculture groups, existing farmers markets like the Cole County Farmers Market and Capital Region Medical Center Farmers' Market, community leaders and elected officials, health professionals, local businesses, local high schools and higher-education institutions, food banks and churches, and other community groups.
"Mainly, we're just hoping to learn from people," Bell said. "I am passionate about downtown, but I am not a farmer. I enjoy going to farmers markets, but I don't fully understand the work that goes into one. I'm also not a landscape architect or someone that has planning experience. I think bringing all these experts to the table will help us make better decisions going forward.
"There's just a lot of room for conversation and collaboration at the workshop."
An evening workshop from 5:30-8:30 p.m. Tuesday will focus on the local food system's vision and values. A work session from 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Wednesday will focus on evaluating what stakeholders want to happen, along with primary challenges and opportunities. A Wednesday afternoon session from 2-5 p.m. will continue the work of action planning in small group sessions.
All workshop sessions will be at Grace Episcopal Church, 217 Adams St.
For more information and to register, visit eventbrite.com/e/jcmo-local-foods-local-places-workshop-tickets-16448258183.