Foods Are Us will kick off farmers’ market on July 11

MEEKER — Range Call, the community’s annual Fourth of July celebration, traditionally kicks off the schedule of summer events.
Many of Range Call’s activities, such as the parade, bank robbery reenactment and food and music on the courthouse lawn, will take place in the downtown district.
This year, there’s another group that hopes to keep the downtown area bustling — at least on Saturdays through September.
A new local group called Foods Are Us is organizing a farmers’ market, scheduled to begin July 11. The market will be located downtown on Fifth Street, between the courthouse and Meeker Elementary School. Vendors will set up in the parking spaces on the west side of the street.
“The Fourth of July activities will sort of serve as a kickoff for downtown events, and we can follow and hopefully keep people downtown for every weekend from that point on,” said Jason Taylor, one of the group’s organizers.
“Our idea is that (the farmers’ market) is an event that draws people downtown,” Taylor added. “Our goal, partially, is to support the downtown businesses.”
Another goal of the group is to bring together growers and consumers.
“If we can bring fruits and vegetables to town, and we can get people to buy them, that will be a huge success,” Taylor said. “We want to build a network of local growers and producers.”
Organizers had initially hoped to open the farmers’ market in June, but had to push back the start date to July, because of weather and short growing season.
“We wanted to start in June, but farmers told us that was too early, and that we wouldn’t have anything to sell,” Taylor said.
The group has commitments from a few “cornerstone” vendors, such as Morton’s Orchards in Palisade, and encourages local growers to participate in the farmers’ market.
“If you’re growing something, if you’re raising something, if you’re baking something, we’d like to build that network,” Taylor said. “For people to bring produce or any product to the market, they have to go through the formal application process.
“If folks from the local community want to bring stuff to the market … they can do so through the Foods Are Us booth,” Taylor continued. “All they have to do is go through the application process and pay the vendor fee, which it only costs $10 to apply.”
For information about Foods Are Us, the farmers’ market and the application process, visit www.foods-are-us.com.