Fresh Food, Community Causes at the New Brunswick Community Farmers Market

Downtown New Brunswick shoppers and workers can now take advantage of a farmers market located in a popular lunch and congregation spot.

The New Brunswick Community Farmers Market has expanded its operations this year with the addition of a satellite market in Kilmer Square Park that is open on Wednesdays throughout the summer.

The market is also continuing its main location at 178 Jones Ave., which is open on Thursdays and Saturdays.

The market offers a slew of local products, including fresh fruit, vegetables, herbs and plants from two local farms, locally sourced honey and baked goods prepared by the culinary students of the Promise Culinary School at Elijah's Promise.

Organizers also promote community education about health and proper nutrition and offer activities for children.

A raffle is also bring held for the month of June, with tickets given for each purchase and a winner to be announced on June 22.

In an attempt to reach populations in immediate need of fresh fruits and vegetables, the market accepts SNAP, WIC, and FMNP vouchers and Seniors Farmers Market Checks.

Market manager Paul Helms said that the market offers an incentive program to those paying for their groceries with the above vouchers and checks: a $10 purchase in benefits will actually permit the customer $15 in product at the market.

The Jones Avenue location is also home to a thriving community garden, which is tended to by between 10-20 local residents, mostly Hispanic, Helms said.

Sabedo Argueta is a senior at Rutgers University, and one of two students interning with the farmers market through an agricultural entrepreneurship program.

He said the team running the market and garden plot have spoken with residents to see what they would like to see growing there. As a result, they have several "culturally appropriate" herbs growing in the garden, as well as marigolds, which are traditionally used during the annual observance of the Day of the Dead.

The other aspect of the garden is to train the community members working on it in how to grow the crops and sell them for profit, Helms said.

However, the residents who are working on it are doing it as a community effort and for their love of it, he said.

"They really care about the community garden," he said.

Argueta counted each person who entered the satellite market on Wednesday, to get a feel how the new market was being received by the city. After 2 p.m., he had counted between 200-300 people, he said.

The New Brunswick Community Farmers Market is open from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. on Wednesdays in Kilmer Square Park, 108 Albany St., and from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Thursdays and 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturdays at 108 Jones Ave.

For more information on the market, visit www.nbcfarmersmarket.com.