Junta for Progressive Action
Maria Garriga, Register Staff
07/06/2005
NEW HAVEN — The city’s newest farmers’ market opens 3 p.m. Thursday in Fair Haven puts a new twist on a traditional concept.
City Farmers’ Market Fair Haven, also called El Gran Mercado (Spanish for "the Great Market") will be the launch pad for several new businesses and has added wireless technology to accept electronic payments for people on state aid.
The market offers a wide range of goods for customers with an appetite for gourmet food and organic produce, fresh flowers, and those with an eye for locally produced art and crafts.
The market will open every Thursday from 3 to 7 p.m until Oct. 27 at the Quinnipiac River Park, near the intersection of Grand Avenue and Front Street.
Market Fair Haven will be a foray into the marketplace for four entrepreneurs using seed grants to turn their crafts into businesses.
City Seed Inc., the nonprofit agency that runs a network of progressive, inner city farmers’ markets in New Haven neighborhoods, has collaborated with Junta for Progressive Action for this latest endeavor along the shores of the Quinnipiac River.
Junta for Progressive Action, a social service agency geared to the Hispanic community, provided each new business with training, a business consultant and a $1,500 seed loan with no interest for the first six months and 5 percent interest after the grace period. City Seed will give them free access to its latest farmers’ market.
"We are not looking to make money off these people," said Michael Montano, Junta’s economic development coordinator. "Creating businesses in Fair Haven brings in dollars for the community." One of the businesses will sell embroidery, another will sell weavings, a third will sell wood sculptures and the fourth will offer beautician services, Montano said.
The new market will be one of the first in the state to accept Electronic Benefit Transfer cards, the state’s high-tech version of food stamps, and cards from the WIC program, (a state nutrition program for Women, Infants, and Children).
"We now have the wireless technology to do that," said Jennifer McTiernan, City Seed’s executive director.
"Every member of the community should have access to locally grown, healthy food," McTiernan said.
The farmers’ market also will offer fresh produce, some organically grown, from Hindinger’s Farm in Hamden, Stone Gardens in Shelton, and organic produce from Starflight Farms in Durham.
Northfordy Farms in Northford, which practices sustainable farming, will offer its maple syrup, free-range eggs and some of the thirty crops it grows, from garlic to fingerling potatoes.
Several Fair Haven restaurants will also open booths.
Maria Garriga can be reached at mgarriga@nhregister.com or 789-5726.