By Joe Jarosz
Northeast News
February 25, 2015

KANSAS CITY, Missouri — In the summer of 2014, Jenna Wilkins began selling vegetables at the now closed La Chalupa Farmers’ Market at Mattie Rhodes.

Wilkins and several other vendors knew the market wasn’t going to last past the summer because Mattie Rhodes was running out of grant funding for the market. So she decided to take action.

“Me and other vendors liked selling in the Northeast and began looking into what it would take to continue selling here,” Wilkins said.

Wilkins, the Market Developer, got the wheels in motion to open a new market in the Northeast. A location was found to house the market in the parking lot of the Independence Boulevard Christian Church, the southeast corner of Independence Avenue and Gladstone Boulevard. The plan is to have the farmer’s market begin on Thursday, June 4, 2015, and continue until October, running every Thursday from 4 – 7 p.m. She’s hoping to have 12 – 15 permanent vendors selling at the market.

“The parking lot is large enough and right along the Avenue that it provides great visibility,” Wilkins said.

To help with the expenses of a new farmer’s market, Wilkins started an Indiegogo crowd-funding campaign. The main difference between this site and Kickstarter is that with IndieGoGo, fundraisers get to keep the money pledged, even if the project fails to meet its marker. The goal is to raise $5,455 by March 28. On the crowd-funding website, Wilkins breaks down what the money will be spent for, which includes:

• $250 to purchase farmers’ market insurance for 2015

• $1,920 for a market manager, responsible for facilitating the day-to-day operations of the market

• $800 for marketing

• $30 for a Missouri Farmers’ Market Association membership

• $1,350 to rent the parking lot next to Independence Boulevard Church, where the market will be held each week

“Whatever we raise, it’ll be money used for a matching grant from the Missouri Department of Agriculture,” Wilkins said. “We’ll also collect vendor fees.”

Once up and running, Wilkins said the market will feature vegetables, fruits, eggs, milk and baked goods. She’s still trying to recruit more vendors to sell more items, such as jams, crafts and even booths for community organizations to promote neighborhood events.

“We also hope to be part of the Kansas City’s Beans&Greens program,” Wilkins said. The program provides a dollar-for-dollar match at numerous farmers’ markets to assist low-income people in eating healthy, locally grown food and to support local farmers through creating new income sources. According to Cultivate KC’s website, in 2013, the program provided more than $152,000 in match. “It allows low income customers to double what they could spend, which is a huge benefit in the Northeast.”

So far, Wilkins noted that she’s gotten a lot of positive responses on Facebook to the idea of creating a new farmer’s market in the area. This isn’t something she’s planning for just this summer, either. She’d ideally like to see the market grow into an annual event. The location, she added, sees roughly 25,000 cars passing through each day. The potential customer base is huge.

“The Mattie Rhodes location was off the beaten path and if you didn’t live in the Northeast, you might not have known about it,” Wilkins said. “With this new location, we’ll have the ability to reach a lot more people in the community. We’re doing everything we can to make sure this is a sustainable market. I think people want it. We just have to provide it for them.”

For more information or to donate, visit https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/northeast-farmers-market#home or search “Northeast Farmer’s Market” on Facebook.