Food, art market coming to downtown VW

VW independent/submitted information

With summer’s bounty at its peak in late July and August, a farm and art market lunchtime experience will open between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. on four consecutive Fridays, beginning July 29.

The “Four Fridays Farm and Art Market” is a partnership between Main Street Van Wert, the Wassenberg Art Center, Van Wert County Hospital, and the Van Wert County Health Department. It will also serve as a pilot project to bring awareness of how growing, selling, or consuming locally produced foods can contribute to the area’s economic and physical health.

In addition to producers of fruit, cheese, eggs, meat, flowers, and beverages, the market has invited area artists to participate. Each Friday will feature music and gourmet food trucks or other fresh food providers serving lunch. Wassenberg Art Center and its exhibits will be open, and vendors and musicians will be located in the front of the center and in its parking lot.

“Many people who work in Van Wert, especially downtown, drive somewhere for lunch or eat in a breakroom or in their cars,” said Main Street Van Wert Program Director Adam Reis. “Four Fridays offers the community something different. Instead of packing a lunch, you can pick your lunch.”

Get it to go or linger and chill to some live music.

The Four Fridays Farm and Art Market project is the result of more than a year’s worth of brainstorming by an informal group of local producers, the Van Wert Area Chamber of Commerce, AgCredit, the hospital, the Van Wert County Board of Commissioners Van Wert city officials, Main Street Van Wert, Wassenberg Art Center, the Ohio State University Extension Office, and anyone interested in working with and supporting what is known as “local foods,” “farm to fork,” or “agri-preneurship.”

“We think the accelerating demand for food produced and consumed in the areas where it’s grown is an untapped economic opportunity for the county,” said Stuart Wyatt, account officer for the Van Wert branch of AgCredit.

Wyatt, who is a board member of the Van Wert Area Economic Development Corporation, said a 2016 USDA report to Congress about trends in local and regional food systems showed that farmers’ markets had a “job multiplier” effect, that businesses near farmers’ markets reported higher sales on market days, and that farmers’ markets increase property values near their districts.

Eating fresh, unprocessed food is a key to good health, and particularly to preventing lifestyle diseases related to obesity and diet. The most recent Community Health Assessment for Van Wert County, released earlier this year, reported that 72 percent of the county’s adults were overweight or obese — a number in line with other northwestern Ohio counties, but above the Ohio and U.S. average.

As the Van Wert County Health Collaborative prepares its next Community Health Improvement Plan, nutrition and activity — both of which tie into an emphasis on locally produced foods — could be an element.

As long as vendors are compliant with whatever guidelines guide the sale of their product, they are welcome to participate free of charge at the Four Friday’s markets, said Wassenberg Executive Director Hope Wallace. She noted the site has access to electricity and water, if needed, adding that vendor applications are being accepted now through July 21 at the Wassenberg Art Center.

For more information, contact Program and Event Coordinator Megan Thomas at the Wassenberg Art Center at 419.238.6837 or at info@wassenbergartcenter.org.