FARMERS’ MARKET OFFERS A HOMEGROWN ATMOSPHERE

No event in Shreveport-Bossier City signals the advent of summer quite like the opening of the Shreveport Farmers’ Market.

Set to begin June 1 and continuing on Tuesdays and Saturdays through Aug. 31, the Farmers’ Market offers food, gifts, music and a unique, family friendly and decidedly homegrown atmosphere in Festival Plaza in downtown Shreveport.

This year featuring 166 vendors, up from 140 in 2012, the Shreveport Farmers’ Market has grown not just in size but in quality as well.

“We are bigger than ever and utilizing more of Festival Plaza,” said market manager Noma Fowler-Sandlin. “I urge people to enter on the west end of Festival Plaza. Many of the favorites have relocated to the West [Market Street] Pavilion due to electrical needs. If you want your Bradley Sweet Corn or Anderson’s Plants and Produce or the favorite treat of the market – ice cream made on site – then you’ll have to get to that pavilion to do so. Also on that end, we’ll be having entertainment and demonstrations, buskers and, the second Saturday of each month, our beloved Blanchard Jammers. There’s also a little gazebo down there where we’ll have events for kids to learn about and sometimes even taste different foods. Some of our bigger vendors with refrigeration will be in our new Food  Row. Some of the meat, the blanched veggies and even a couple of food trucks will be there, along with a new feature at our market, a creamery.”

“We are bigger than ever and utilizing more of Festival Plaza.”

That’s pretty exciting stuff for an institution that started out with just 65 vendor spaces. The Shreveport Farmers’ Market is now one of the largest in the state. In 2008, opening day saw 2,000 visitors, and in just two years, that number jumped 800 percent to 8,000 shoppers on opening day 2010. An economic impact study conducted in 2009 indicated the market produced $1,544,964 in direct revenue.

According to the Farmers’ Market website (www.shreveportfarmersmarket. com), shoppers spent $972,113 at the market, and 24 percent of those spent in total another $572,851 at other area businesses. The average shopper spent $25.64 per visit at the Farmers’ Market and an additional $60.98 elsewhere in the community. In all, the Shreveport Farmers’ Market generated $2,622,438 in local revenue in 2009.

The city of Shreveport isn’t the only one benefitting economically from the Farmers’ Market, though.

“This year, we have at least three [young farmers] who are putting themselves through college with what they’re selling,” Fowler-Sandlin said. “It encourages them to stick with a traditional profession.

“I think over the last few years, people have become more concerned with what they put in their bodies,” Fowler-Sandlin said. “Shopping at the Farmers’ Market is one way to assure that your food has been through as few hands as possible on its way to your table. In many cases you can talk to the person who grew it and ask them specific questions about it. ‘What kind of fertilizer did you use? Have you sprayed these with insecticide?’ It’s also a great way to express to farmers how you want it done. Additionally, it’s a great morning out. You get up early, come down to the market, buy from your neighbors and really feel connected to the community.”

The Shreveport Farmers’ Market takes place under the pavilion at Festival Plaza (101 Crockett St. at the intersection of Crockett and Commerce streets) in downtown Shreveport. Parking is available on the streets at meters, which are free on Saturdays, behind RiverView Hall or on the lower level of Festival Plaza adjacent to Sci-Port: Louisiana’s Science Center. Handicapped parking is available on Commerce Street or in the overlook lot close to the pavilion. Public restrooms and an ATM are available onsite. It will open for the season 7 a.m. to noon June 1. It will be open each Saturday through Aug. 31 with the exception of June 22, when the 27th annual Let the Good Times Roll Festival will take place.

“An alternate market will be held at Provenance that day with many of our vendors,” said Fowler-Sandlin. Additionally, the market will be open from 3-6 p.m. Tuesdays June 4 through July 16. There will also be a special market 6:30 a.m. to noon July 4.

Though farmers’ markets have existed throughout the history of the city of Shreveport, the current iteration was established in 1986 in the Red River District underneath the Texas Street Bridge. The Red River Revel Arts Festival took over operations in 1999, and Fowler- Sandlin, who had sold jam at the market for several years, became its manager. The market has grown dramatically ever since.

This year, even more people will have access to healthy produce and other homegrown foods since the Farmers’ Market is now able to accept SNAP Benefits, formerly known as food stamps.

“There are so many food deserts in Shreveport, many of them near downtown. That means there [are] no grocery stores,” Fowler-Sandlin said. “By accepting SNAP benefits, along with our already-existing WIC and Senior Nutrition programs, we’ll be filling a void. We are only two blocks from the SporTran Terminal. People who need to shop now have another option. Plus, SNAP recipients with special dietary needs can fill them at the market. People will bring their SNAP cards to The Tower on the west end, and I will slide it and issue tokens they can use at participating vendors’ stalls.”

In the meantime, Fowler-Sandlin and this year’s vendors, many of whom are Farmers’ Market mainstays, are excited about the plethora of new offerings this year. “We have an Art Alley under the Spring Street Bridge featuring 20 different artists,” she said. “Some of them will also be demonstrating their skills. We have a vendor who will be spinning her alpacas’ fibers and selling related products and a vendor with a pottery wheel. And, of course, there are some kids’ handson projects to do there [as well]. Once a month, we’ll have a knife-sharpening service there, too. The east side of the market is bigger and has the Market Cafe, now under a tent, with local musicians performing. Wherever you start your market day, there’s going to be something to see, do and eat.”

Cindy Gleason Johnson, author of “Southern Faire,” a local food blog dedicated to Southern cooking and cuisine (www.southernfaire.blogspot.com), is the vendor of the Shreveport Farmers’ Market’s wildly popular Beignets (www.facebook. com/BeignetsAtTheFarmersMarket).

Johnson has big plans for Beignets.

“This year, we are working with a local coffee roaster to create our own custom blends, and although it may not be ready for opening day, I would encourage everyone to come back and try it. Also, I will be offering, on a limited basis, a new item to go with coffee other than beignets – biscotti. In past years, there have been customers with fried-food aversions wanting an alternative and now we will have it.”

“Shopping at the Farmers’ Market is one way to assure that your food has been through as few hands as possible on its way to your table.”

A vendor since 2010, Johnson feels that having easy access to fresh, locally grown, organic food and heirloom vegetables impacts the local culture.

“I think Southern cooks are incredibly creative and thrive with access to fresh vegetables, which are fundamental to how we cook and what others know as Southern cuisine. The variety of heirlooms and organic vegetables available at the Farmers’ Market gives us a broader palette to work with.”

If you’ve never been to the Shreveport Farmers’ Market, this is the year to make your debut. Fowler-Sandlin and others said it just makes good sense.

“Eating what is in season, when it’s at its peak, makes sense,” she said. “Knowing where the food came from and how it was handled – those are things we should know. Desiring food that was grown for its taste instead of its shipability, it is the way to go. These folks are encouraging farmers and gardeners to grow for good reasons, like taste. Additionally, we don’t lose those plants to lack of use. It demonstrates the relationship between the seller and the buyer and forms a huge link in the community chain. That’s a traditional value that we never want to lose.”