June 1st Market News-Opening Day!

Saturday morning at 8:30, when Sophie Morgiewicz, the octogenarian owner of Morgiewicz Produce, rings her cowbell, the Hastings Farmers’ Market summer season will officially begin. On Saturday, as a community, we’ll all pour into the library parking lot to see how it’s been transformed and what is in season. We’ll appreciate the rustically elegant collection of tents and seasonal delicacies market director Pascale Le Draoulec has assembled. With luck, the sun will be reflecting off the Palisades and the Hudson River. We’ll warm to the strains of the musicians’ first tune. And we’ll know we are home.

This Saturday, we are asking you to join us in sustaining the Hastings Food Pantry Pantry, with a donation jar at the market table. Community is what the Hastings Farmers' Market stands for, including coming together to celebrate fresh food, regional farmers, sustainable practices, and the joy of being with friends and neighbors. Community is why the nonprofit Farmers’ Market makes charity and education part of our mission. For example, the Market provides an annual college scholarship and contributes to the library, RiverArts, and other causes. And we're pleased to host dozens of Hastings community groups ranging from the PTSA and Volunteer Fire Department/Ambulance Corps to the Historical Society and Project SHARE. Community was the impetus for launching SNAP at the Market 10 years ago, and it's why we offer “Market Bucks” coupons to supplement customers’ food stamp purchases. Community is also why we host a monthly “gleaning” program, when customers donate produce or money that the Market gives to the Hastings Food Pantry. And it’s why, each week, the Market buys fresh eggs and apples from market vendor Orchards of Concklin to donate to the Hastings Food Pantry.

Situated at the Community Center, the Pantry serves about 40 Hastings households a month. Those households include our neighbors, families with children, single people, elderly folks, working people—anyone struggling to get enough to eat. As we kick off a month-long collection at the Market table, we welcome your participation! Your donations will go toward the cost of eggs and apples and will make it possible to buy additional produce and protein for the Pantry. Please look for the collection jar at the market table throughout June. The table will be staffed by a cheerful volunteer, maybe one of your neighbors, who together with you and all Market customers make the Market the wonderful place it is.

Thank you, and have a happy and healthful summer season!