(Submitted by Downtown Bowling Green)
On July 11, a nonprofit group in BG called Mentoring For Youth will have a table at the Downtown Farmers Market. They offer a free program to youth ages 14-17 to help them stay on track with school and their goals. They also pair the kids with trained, volunteer mentors to help them make positive choices and help them develop life and job skills. Participants get to go on outings, activities, workshops, and field trips. Feel free to stop by their table to learn more about this wonderful local group.
Returning vendor favorites such as Riehm Produce Farm, Anderson’s Farm Fresh Produce, Clay Hill, Bella Cuisine, SoBee Honey, Little Orchids Garden, Garden Nursery, Great Lakes Sharpening, Dirty Feet, Steven’s Gardens, English Gardener, The Cookie Fairy, Magical Mystery Shop, Gardenview Flowers and Country Grains will all be back with your favorite items.
New to this season vendors have been wonderful additions to our market. Included will be; Kitten Pants LLC (crochet creations), Heart of Ryan (local produce and greens), Just Jammin & Stuff (jams, chutney, and artistic pieces), Thurman Family Farm (Plants, local produce), Steve’s Signature Sauces (BBQ Sauces), Z Farms (mushrooms and greens), Calico, Sage and Thyme (local downtown business selling teas and various items), COSTCO (membership information) and Maumee Greens (greens and salad kits).
We also have quite a line up making their season debut next week. Vendors include; Kings Berries, Our Backyard Garden (plants, soaps & specialty items), Viking Coffee, Nomads Mushrooms, and Aunt Gena’s Gourmet Sweet Corn.
New to this season are our wonderful food vendor options. Feel free to grab a new “veggie dawg” from Weenie Dawg’s cart; or try the well known “Pulled Pork Sundae” from Country Lane BBQ. One of our downtown businesses, Flatland’s Coffee, always offers coffee, tea, and various baked goods to grab for a snack. BGSU Dining will also be at market preparing a free market snack with goods purchased day of; their last visit they offered a waffle cone bruschetta which was a huge hit among market visitors.
While snacking away; The Stone’s Throw Stage will have local rock and country tunes from Chris & Shellby starting at 5:30 p.m. Thank you to Tim Concannon and Stone’s Throw for giving us a wonderful lineup of bands this season.
Our market runs from 4 – 7 p.m., Wednesday nights in the Huntington Bank parking lot on the corner of South Main and Clough streets. Huge thank you to Huntington Bank for donating this space to us each week. We would also like to thank Thayer Family Dealerships, All State Insurance and Newlove Realty for their donations toward the Frequent Buyer program. Each time a shopper spends $5 at a stand, they get a stamp on their card. When the card is full the card will be turned in for $5 in Downtown Dollars. For those not familiar with the Downtown Dollars program, more than 70 downtown businesses accept them for goods and services. You can get a frequent buyer card and redeem a full card at the market info booth. Last year, about $2,000 in Downtown Dollars were awarded to shoppers.
Huge shout out as well to our newest sponsor, Rivereast Custom Cabinets, a family owned cabinet manufacturer in Toledo. These amazing sponsorships help keep your Best Small Town market successful.
Look out for July 18th, when BG Parks and Rec returns to market for a Kids Fun Day with the Bike Safety Commission, and then the next week (July 25) for the very popular Zucchini 500.
For a full schedule of all the music and special events at the market check out our website at bgfarmersmarket.org. Special thanks to Julie Martini and Martini Creative for hosting and updating the website as a part of a sponsorship with the market. More information is also available on our Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/BGFarmersMarket/) and Instagram (@freshpicd).
