Cincinnati Enquirer / September 1, 2013
EAST PRICE HILL — Some Tuesday afternoons in the Roberts Academy parking lot off Grand Avenue, there’s a man churning ice cream on a stationary bike contraption. Most weeks, fresh breads and specialty cheeses beckon shoppers. And sometimes, if you’re lucky, a local pastor is selling his homemade Guatemalan pastries.
And shoppers can always expect to find fresh, local fruits and vegetables.
Since opening in the parking lot of the Cincinnati public school the first week of July, the Findlay Market Price Hill farm stand’s offerings have grown slowly, as has awareness of the humble operation – run out of a converted metal shipping container, like one you’d see hauled by a train or semi truck.
The farm stand idea seems to be accomplishing its goals: making nutritious food accessible and engaging the community, said Karen Kahle, Findlay Market’s resource development director. Kahle sees these mini markets – and they’re envisioning more – as proof of Findlay’s commitment to rebuild a local, healthy food system in Cincinnati.
“Public markets … are about community,” Kahle said, and while many of us love to eat seasonal foods, like melons and sweet corn, “sometimes we forget that some people don’t have access to fresh food.”
The West Side is beginning to see the market bear such fruit, literally and figuratively, said Tracy Power, resource coordinator at Roberts Academy, which has a diverse student population in which more than 40 percent of its students are learning English as their second language.
With a Kroger store less than 1½ miles away, it’s not as much about creating an oasis in a food desert (a problem with which other parts of the city wrestle) as it is providing options and encouraging the community to forge relationships with their neighbors and the school, Power said. Each week the market has volunteer translators on hand to encourage such interaction.
“We want to re-establish our schools as hubs in their neighborhoods,” Power said. “The market is perfect for that.”
