Hear all about it! Adams County Farmers Market!

September 24th, 2021

by Linwood Nicolas Jr.

On a hot, early September morning, a group of Gettysburg College Environmental Students took a field trip to the local Adams County Farmers Market. The goal of this trip was to focus on the relationship between the community and the market, as well as the funding of the market. Along with gathering any additional information as well. The market is located on the corner of West Railroad Street in a gravel-filled parking lot. Having a spot near a train and bus station makes it easily accessible. In this case, we have decided to walk to the market. As it is no more than 1 mile from the Gettysburg College Campus.

  The first thing to standout were the warming colors displayed around the market. The vendor layout was pretty small, hosting around 20 vendors. The theme of the market seemed to represent the feeling of fall, giving the customers a special feeling of friendliness and peacefulness. The smell of fresh pastries, spices, and cooking food from the food truck filled the air. As the pleasant music from the live band maintained the audience’s attention as they ate their food in the shaded sitting areas.

The market has been around for about 11 years. According to Professor Salma Monani, from Gettysburg College. “This Farmers Market has been around since I first started teaching here at Gettysburg.” Much of this longevity comes from the happiness of the vendors as well as the local community of the market. This is no coincidence given the way those who for the farmers market as vendors feel about the market and its community. “It’s a lot of fun, but it’s also a lot of hard work. I enjoy seeing new faces of the community and seeing people interested in my hard work. I also make good money from the stand as well. The market provides a healthy eating option, so it makes me feel good” Said the youngest of all the vendors, a 14 year old boy. The overall goal of the farmers market seems to be to provide healthy eating habits for the people of its community and more by increasing the consumption of local vegetables and products.

With the help of the market’s SNAP Program, and the funding from major organizations such as “The Gettysburg Hospital Foundation” the market is able to ensure their products are available to families of all income. The SNAP Program is a program which provides nutrition benefits to supplement the food budget of lower income families allowing them to purchase healthy food and progress further towards self-sufficiency. However, this farmers market does something in particular that benefits its customers even more than before. They can double EBT spent at the market, allowing customers to essentially buy more money to shop at the market. Although if you make more than the required amount of money for the SNAP program, there is another program called The Healthy Options program. This program is for those who fall into the “Food Gap”. Meaning you make too money much for SNAP, but you still can’t afford a sustainable healthy diet.

The impact of this farmers market on the community is triumphant! It’s because of the healthy benefits of the market they were able to gain the “Gettysburg Hospital Foundation ” as a sponsor and funder. The Gettysburg Hospital Foundation sees this market as an investment in the community’s health, so they were all aboard the mission!” said by the Director of the Farmers Market, Reza Djalal. The market gives the community access to fresh local healthy food options at a super low cost to ensure the health of the community is in good hands and sustainable. That being said, the market’s success lies crucially in the happiness of its customers and the variety of local products they sell. After all, most of the farmer markets advertisements rely on the word of mouth by its customers. Although, Reza Djalal has taken all blame for this by stating “The website is currently inactive, I’ve been lazy.” Yet, the farmers market nutrition plan still has 250 people without a website.

The success of this farmer market is steadily increasing, and the future seems extremely bright! As the market has grown a massive amount over the past years. According to Reza Djalal, “During Covid the market had grown 42% in size and revenue and is expected to increase 50% of that this coming year.” Although the advertisement of the farmers market is shaky, the market has been doing great and looking to move locations and expand even more than before. “The Market is eternal, the location is temporary!” Reza Djalal. Therefore, he has no fear customers will stay loyal to the market once locations change around.

In conclusion, the market seems to have its focus on its community health and wellbeing. They intend to continue to increase in size, and provide more healthy options its customers at cheaper prices with the continued help of those who are invested into their dream. In doing so, the director, Reza Djalal has realized he must be more active in advertisement as well. As he now looks forward to the usage of social media to help. “I’m thinking about making a farmers market Tik-Tok to promote the market” he says. With the continued funding and help of big organizations such as The Gettysburg Hospital program, the market’s future is inevitable! This trip was one of a kind, and I can’t wait to come back for more!

This story was updated on [October 8th, 2021]. The primary changes include [errors in grammar, excess wording, narrowing my focus, stripping paragraphs of fluffiness]. 

Sources

• Professor Salmi Monani
• Photograpy by Linwood Nicolas Jr.
• Riza Djalal, Director of Adams County Farmers Market
• “Gettysburg Hospital Foundation” https://www.wellspan.org/about/philanthropy/gettysburg-hospital-foundation/