Akron’s North Hill plans a soft launch of its farmers market this weekend. For Ohio Public Radio, WKSU’s M.L. Schultze reports it’s a collaboration aimed at weaving together the varied communities that have settled here.
A farmers market and community crossroads
The first market will be Saturday along a block of North Main Street that several years ago hosted a weekend of pop-up shops, music, dance and food. John Ughrin, head of the North Akron Community Development Corporation, says the market is part of an ongoing effort to integrate a neighborhood bisected by wide streets and separated by the disparate cultures that came with the thousands of refugees from Nepal, Burma, the Congo and other word hotspots.
“The Exchange House is one of our partners, the Shanti Farms group -- and they’re doing both urban and rural farming trying to maintain a lot of the traditions with the immigration partners of North Hill. And the Ancient Order of Hibernians, of course, keeping Irish culture alive in North Hill.”
The market is scheduled to run through Sept. 29, and the Exchange House is offering entrepreneurship workshops for vendors.
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