Houghton Kicking Off Farmer’s Market Season with a Local Focus

With warmer days and sunnier skies ahead in the Keweenaw Peninsula, the region has begun preparing for the annual farmer’s market season. Last year the local farmer’s market collective got the ball rolling with an introductory festival at the Houghton Waterfront Pier. This year the city of Houghton and the Keweenaw Chamber of Commerce will keep that ball rolling with the introduction of the Loca-vore festival. Business Development Coordinator for Houghton Amy Zawada says that next weekend’s festivities will include many of the same activities as the From the Ground festival in 2023 but with a little bit more Houghton.

“We’re going to have two local bands playing Fast Car and Dead North. And there will be the local soccer team is going to have a little fundraiser. They’ll be selling refreshments, pop, and water. We’ll have a couple of food trucks there. I believe the Coast Guard is coming, so they’ll be pulled up to the pier space and that’ll be a cool thing to look at. Um, we’ll also have some baby goats and baby lambs, the same as we did last year. and there’ll be a few informational booths as well. So last year we had awesome weather. It was super fun. It was great. It was a great vibe for all the vendors. So definitely come on down and check it out. Then make your way up to Sheldon Avenue and check out all our local shops.” – Amy Zawada, Business Development Coordinator, City of Houghton

The From the Ground Farmer’s Market Collective let the city and chamber take the lead in organizing the market’s kick-off festival. So that the collective’s leaders could focus more on organizing the region’s vendors, and coordinate training on several food assistance programs available at all three market locations. 

“And then there’s this amazing program called Double Up Food Bucks that for up to every $20 that you swipe with your EBT card, you get $20 in these tokens to spend on fresh fruits and vegetables as well as plant or vegetable-producing plants. So like a tomato start or something like that. And this program is geared to try to incentivize people to purchase local and also get fresh fruits and vegetables. Like. which you said are pretty difficult to access in our community if you’re not interacting directly with farmers.” – Cassandra Reed–Vandam, Co-Manager, From the Ground Farmer’s Market Collective

The Loca-Vore festival next week will kick off the Houghton’s farmer’s market season. Followed by the start of the summer farmer’s markets in Houghton, Hancock, and Calumet this summer starting in June. This weekend vendors for the farmer’s markets will begin training on various assistance programs. Loca-vore Festival will take place at the Houghton Waterfront Pier May 25th, from 12 pm to 3 pm.

Those interested in learning more about the locavore festival can find more details here.