EDGEWATER —The dozen or so booths at the weekly Edgewater Farmers Market sell baked goods, candles, honey, soap and other homemade wares, but the event was lacking core items: fresh produce and eggs.
So earlier this year, Healthy Edgewater began asking residents with backyard gardens if they wouldn’t mind contributing excess fruits, vegetables or eggs to be sold every Thursday evening at the organization’s farmers market booths.
“We were struggling to find vendors with healthy foods … farmers markets across the state are saturated, and there’s simply not enough of the purveyors and providers of fresh food,” said Healthy Edgewater organizer Lee Stiffler-Meyer. “We said, ‘Hey, wouldn’t it be cool if we had backyard Edgewater farmers selling at our market to fill this need?’ It’s a win for the gardener and a win for the community to get access to healthy food.”
Healthy Edgewater is a citizen-led group that came out of the Heal Cities and Town Campaign sponsored by nonprofit Livewell Colorado. Edgewater City Council endorsed the campaign.
Members saw opportunity in
“There’s ‘Big P’ policy and ‘Little P’ policy, and last year’s resolution falls under the latter,” Edgewater Councilwoman Myra Keeble said of the Livewell endorsement. “It’s promoting things like getting people to ride their bikes to council meetings, setting out fresh fruit and vegetables instead of coffee and donuts at events.”
The city of 5,250 has become a diverse mix of residents in recent years, with a wide range of ages, incomes and racial composition. While many residents have promoted — and participated in — , the city’s main strip along Sheridan Boulevard is packed with fast food restaurants and many residents lack access to locally grown produce.
But that’s starting to change.
Three households now contribute their wares, which have quickly sold out, showing a pent-up demand for locally grown produce and the need for more residents to contribute, Stiffler-Meyer said.
“Our goal is to help residents across all economic incomes, but our focus is on lower income because we know that’s where lack of access to healthy food is,” she added.
Deborah and Jason Bump now contribute eggs and vegetables to the Healthy Edgewater booth. On a recent Wednesday morning, they tended to their chickens and plots of vegetables that take up a good swath of their entire backyard.
“We do have an abundance, so it’s obviously about helping people who can’t physically garden or may not have the space,” Deborah Bump said. “But it’s also about getting to meet our neighbors and hooking up with like-minded people beyond simply selling produce.”
Her husband said fresh eggs sell out faster than anything, and added the sky’s the limit as to the potential of a true community-led farmers market in Edgewater.
“My hope is to see this become a real farmers market, where I bring nothing but tomatoes, and my neighbor down the street brings carrots,” Bump said.
Julie George, director of , said Edgewater is unique among cities that have adopted the campaign because it’s been driven mainly by residents and not the city.
George said her organization plans on working with Healthy Edgewater to get EBT machines that accept SNAP benefits up-and-running at the farmers market.
“People of lower-socioeconomic status tend to have higher obesity rates and higher rates of chronic disease,” George said. “It’s the adage ‘your ZIP code determines your overall health more than your genetic code,’ and programs like this can help combat that.”
Austin Briggs: 303-954-1729 or abriggs@denverpost.com
Edgewater Farmers Market
When: 5-8 p.m. Thursdays
Where: West 25th Avenue, west of Sheridan Boulevard
Info: Contact Lee Stiffler-Meyer at lstiffle@centurylink.net
