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September 30, 2016 FREE
Fresh food every weekend Fort Wayne Farmers’ Market to be open throughout winter months By Whitney Wright wwright@kpcmedia.com
Fort Wayne residents will have access to an authentic farmers’ market every weekend through the winter for the first time this year. The Fort Wayne Farmers’ Market will continue running from October until May in its winter location at Parkview Field. More than 37 vendors are likely to participate each weekend at the winter market and will provide products locally available in the winter months, some of which may be grown in aquaponics, high tunnels or hoop houses. Products available may also be ones grown in the summer or autumn and stored in the winter. The Fort Wayne Farmers’ Market has
continually become more popular over the years, providing fresh and local produce and meats every summer to the area. Upon the market’s success, those on the market coordinating team — a small group of roughly five volunteers who meet weekly to have open discussions and make decisions about the market — decided it was time to try to run the market one weekend each month outside of the normal summer season. After that proved fruitful, they raised it to two weekends per winter month. The markets’ continual popularity made this year feel like the right one to test a weekly farmers’ market throughout the winter. As the market coordinator, Lisa Haagan personally went to each
vendor this summer to ask if they would be interested in participating in the winter. Response to the idea was better than the team could have hoped for, said Haagan. She even had to turn down some vendors due to spacing issues. Additionally, the public has relayed interest in having fresh and local products available for purchase all year and attendance to the market was an encouraging factor in moving forward with a weekly winter market. The weekly winter farmers’ market will be a combination of vendors from the Fort Wayne Farmers’ Market and the YLNI Farmers Market, which is open nearby the Fort Wayne See MARKET, Page A16
Fall is finally here Keep your schedule stacked with autumn fun Fort Wayne has a lot of exciting, and in some cases frightening, autumn festivities coming up for October, some of which have already begun. To end the Halloween season right, trick-ortreating for Fort Wayne is on Halloween night from 5-7 p.m. Other locations in and around Fort Wayne will celebrate Halloween and fall in the weeks leading up to Halloween, including hay rides, pumpkin patches, corn mazes and more. Also to look forward to is the Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo’s Wild Zoo Halloween weekends, and Oct. 15 is the annual downtown Fort Wayne Fright Night. Wild Zoo Halloween The Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo will begin its Wild Zoo Halloween
weekends on Friday, Oct. 14, and end on Monday, Oct. 31. Those who purchase a regular admission ticket will be able to see all of the zoo’s exhibits as usual and enjoy that day’s theme. The additional purchase of a Treat Ticket will allow access to the zoo’s Treat Trails FILE PHOTO for trick-ortreating in the The Zombie Walk returns as part of Fort zoo. This year Wayne’s Fright Night, Oct. 15. there are two Attendees can expect to Treat Trails: one begins find fun in the zoo’s mini at Monkey Island maze, meeting the zoo’s and the other is in the lion mascot, puppet joke Australian Adventure section of the zoo. See AUTUMN, Page A15
Times Community Publications/INfortwayne.com
wwright@kpcmedia.com
3306 Independence Drive, Fort Wayne, IN 46808
By Whitney Wright
COURTESY PHOTOS
Top: Vendors provide fresh vegetables to customers during the winter months at Parkview Field. Bottom: Customers at a previous winter’s farmer market deciding between specialties.