WACO, TX – A new bi-weekly Farmers’ Market seeks to bring fresh, healthy options to a community with few grocery options.
The East Waco Farmers’ Market started about a month ago, run by the Waco chapter of the National Women in Agriculture Association. On Wednesdays and Fridays between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m., the organization and its vendors are located in a lot at the corner of Elm Avenue and Dallas Street.
At the Friday market, fresh produce, plants and artwork lined the tables of vendors like Victory Oasis Farm & Ranch, owned by Cynthia Lyons.
“This area is considered a food desert. So there is no option, no store, for a local resident to go and buy fresh produce, fresh food,” Lyons said.
A “food desert” is a community with little or no access to supermarkets. The USDA defines a food desert as a community that has a poverty rate greater than 20 percent and in which at least 33 percent of the community lives more than a mile from a supermarket or grocery store.
“Most people can report a problem. And so you look like something special when you can identify a problem,” said James McCoy, an East Waco resident. “You are special when you can solve it. It’s a solution.”
McCoy was delighted to stop by the market on Friday morning in a community he has lived in for 72 years.
“It gives me and my community the opportunity to have something other than potato chips, chicken wings and burgers. Real food. To support us! McCoy said.
While several people stopped to shop at the East Waco Farmers’ Market on Friday morning, they are hopeful that more community members begin to take advantage of a place to shop for fresh produce in East Waco.
“I encourage everyone to come out, come meet and greet, and we can let you know all we are going to do here in this community to help this community grow and develop and learn more about food. fresh, ”Lyons mentioned.
The market also hopes to open on Saturdays in the coming weeks. In the future, the organizers want to run classes to teach people gardening and farming techniques that they can use to grow their own food at home.