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Pop-up market series begins downtown
YOUNGSTOWN
Visitors to downtown Youngstown on Friday afternoon were given the opportunity to sample fresh, healthy food grown locally thanks to a pop-up market hosted by ACTION (Alliance for Congregational Transformation Influencing Our Neighborhoods) and Flying High Inc.
The market was the first of several scheduled to take place across the city throughout the summer and fall.
The market accepts EBT, Produce Perks tokens, debit cards, credit cards and senior vouchers.
Ronald Fasano, development director at Flying High and an ACTION board member, said the markets are intended to provide the community with opportunities to buy fresh produce and learn how to prepare healthy food in ways they otherwise may not have considered.
“I could hand you a bag of collard greens, but if you don’t know how to prepare them or you don’t prepare them in a healthy way, it’s not doing you any good,” Fasano said. “Eventually, we’d like to put together a cookbook of health recipes made from foods you can buy right here in Youngstown at our garden.”
Fasano hopes the pop-up markets are the first phase in what eventually will become a community-owned and operated grocery store in the city.
“This year we’re going to do the pop-up markets, and we’re considering a mobile market next year for our second phase,” Fasano said. “Eventually, maybe phase three, we’d like to see a community-owned and supported grocery store that makes fresh, locally grown food available to residents.”
All the food at the market was grown on the city’s North Side at Flying High’s GROW Urban Farm, where individuals in Flying High’s job-training programs grow and harvest produce as a way to develop skills.
Parker Maynard, who oversees the farm, was busy cooking a mixture of kale, cabbage, swiss chard and chicken sausage to entice passers-by to spend time at the tent.
“We’re just doing a little food education today,” he said. “Everything we’re cooking is in season and grown at the farm,.”
The next pop-up market will be from 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Friday at the Newport Library branch, 3730 Market St.