SALT LAKE CITY — The Downtown Farmers Market is kicking off its 27th year Saturday with interactive kids activities and environment-friendly features.
The market, which the Downtown Alliance says is Utah's largest farmers market, will take place every Saturday through October in Pioneer Park with hundreds of vendors selling local products from arugula to handmade jewelry.
"There is no question farmers markets are crucial to the vitality of our city," Salt Lake City Mayor Jackie Biskupski said at a news conference Wednesday announcing this year's market.
One aspect of the weekly event is a program to grow healthy eating habits in children.
According to Jeremy Holt, a representative with Select Health, the Market Kids program is an activity for children that highlights farmers and healthy eating. Once a child completes the activity, they're awarded a kid's buck, which they can use to buy produce at any participating vendor.
"They can spend those bucks to have that real buying experience where hopefully it helps them develop healthy eating habits," Holt said. "So when you get home they're not kicking and screaming when you put those fresh greens on their plate — they're actually wanting to eat them because it's something they bought at the market."
Holt said research shows if someone is involved in a produce-buying experience, they're more likely to eat produce.
"So if you're having issues with your kids eating produce, or your spouse or your partner eating produce, you can bring them to the market and involve them in that buying experience and they'll be more likely to eat those things," Holt said.
The Downtown Farmers Market is implementing several environment-friendly features, including banning plastic bag use for all vendors and handing out tote bags to vendors and patrons instead. The cost for the bags is covered by the Downtown Farmers Market's multiple sponsors.
The market will also have a Select Health day at the market on June 23, where people can use a Green Bike from any city station for free using the code 2018.
Biskupski said farmers markets are greatly beneficial to cities because they bring residents closer to the natural world and provide unique, sustainable products.
"Most importantly, they are economic drivers, not just for farmers who live outside the city, but for local food entrepreneurs and urban gardeners that live right here in Salt Lake City," Biskupski said.
Amanda Theobald, an urban farmer at her new business, Top Crops SLC, said she is excited to start her first summer selling season with the Downtown Farmers Market. The business grows its crops less than a mile from Pioneer Park.
"We are growing on a quarter acre, but we pack it really tight," Theobald said. "We focus on salad greens, arugula, microgreens and root vegetables."
Alison Bangerter Rampton, representing Bangerter Farms, said her six-generation family farm has been operating for more than a hundred years and selling at the Downtown Farmers Market for over 20 years.
"We believe in supporting local farmers, all local farmers, buying the fresh local produce," Rampton said, adding that supporting local farmers opens opportunities of "health benefits that come from fresh produce that you can have picked that day, grown that day and cooked in your kitchen that same day."
Biskupski said the Downtown Farmers Market has "breathed life" into Pioneer Park and nearby neighborhoods during its 27 years.
"This market has made Pioneer Park a Saturday destination for residents all over the state and has become a crucial piece of our efforts to address issues in this neighborhood," she said.