Keweenaw Convention & Visitors Bureau Farmers markets have been growing in popularity with amazing speed over the past couple of years, particularly after the COVID lockdowns and the food insecurities that accompanied them. The shift in demands of consumers has a positive and significant impact on the local economy, as growers and vendors have increased availability of locally grown produce to meet the increasing demands of local consumers. This has led to the organization of the From the Ground Farmers Market Collective in Houghton County.

HOUGHTON COUNTY — Farmers’ markets in Houghton County have been experiencing exponential growth by cultivating the local food economy, said Leah Polzien, executive director of Main Street Calumet in a Friday release.

“As customer interest has grown over the past few years, farmers and vendors have increased their capacity in attempts to meet overwhelming demand for local food,” said Polzien. “(The) increased vendor and customer activity and participation in multiple food access options has resulted in an increased workload for the organizations managing our area farmers markets.”

That was made evident in October 2020, when the Main Street Calumet Farmers Market extended its business season by moving indoors to the former Calumet and Hecla Mining Company Drill Shop. The move allowed the market to operate until Dec. 19.

Since then, the increased activity between local growers and customers has reached the point that to relieve each community from providing professional farmers market management services individually, the City of Houghton, the City of Hancock and Main Street Calumet,Inc have partnered with market vendors and other public and private sector organizations to address this common need, Polzien said in the release. That partnership has created a new organization called From the Ground Farmers Market Collective (FTGFMC).

FTGFMC is a grassroots effort of the Houghton County farmers markets to consolidate resources to become a robust and dedicated leader of the local food system, says the Main Street Calumet website.

From the Ground Farmers Market brings farmers and shoppers together in a weekly celebration of local foods and community.

Farmer markets offer local, sustainable foods and unique arts and crafts in a colorful, vibrant setting. Each week, the market hosts local food, musicians, cooking demonstrations, and celebrations of the hosting neighborhoods, the website states.

From the Ground manages four markets: A Tuesday afternoon market (June-October) in Houghton; a Thursday afternoon market (June-September) in Hancock; and a Saturday morning market (June-November) in Calumet.

The From the Ground Farmers Market is a project of the city of Houghton, city of Hancock, village of Lake Linden, village of Calumet and Main Street Calumet. It is directed by a volunteer Farmers Market Committee selected from each regional governance and vendor pool.

A local farmer and member of the Farmers Market Committee, Jake TenHarmsel said, “We came together and formed FTGFMC to pool our resources, to make hiring a full-time market manager possible so that we could handle back-of-house and front-of-house work efficiently, and make our markets more customer-ready and vendor-friendly.”

“FTGFMC is looking for someone to take on the role of a Regional Market Manager for the 2022 market season and beyond,” the MSC website states. “Markets in the Houghton County area are an important part of our communities weekly routine and have become an inspired place for our community to meet, eat and enjoy everything our abundant food-system has to offer.”

A professional Farmers Market manager will have the opportunity to sew the next season of farmers market success, expand the local food economy and provide food education in our community.

Interested applicants can visit https://www.mainstreetcalumet.com/farmers-market.html to view the job description and to learn how to apply. Applications will be accepted until Friday, April 22.

From the Ground Farmers Market Collective is a dba of Main Street Calumet, Inc. For more information on the organization or this press release please contact Rachael Pressley at 906-370-9862 or emailfromthegroundfmc@gmail.com.