South Windsor Winter Farmers Market to Open Saturday

For those despairing that the end of the summer signals a return to tasteless grocery store produce, take heart! The South Windsor Winter Farmers Market opens Saturday with all the fun and the healthful food of summer.

The indoor market, now in its second year, will be held weekly from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. until Dec. 21 at St. Margaret Mary Church in South Windsor.

The event will include much of the same types of offerings as did the summer farmers market, held at the Charles N. Ennes Community Center, including local, seasonal produce, meats, eggs, dairy, jams and jellies, pies and baked goods, pierogies, tea, raw foods, soy candles, jewelry, yarns and wovens, coffee, truffles, soaps and lotions.

“We’re really excited about it,” said Market Master Sandy Jeski. “We’ve grown from last year and we have altogether about 30 vendors.”

The market is a project of the South Windsor Food Alliance, a subcommittee of the Parks and Recreation Commission, entitled Healthy Food Systems. The South Windsor Food Alliance website explains the connection, saying the goal is to support a healthy food system in town by increasing “awareness regarding the health benefits of residents eating locally grown foods and to make the connection between where our food comes from and the local farms that have been an important link in the town’s history.”

Andrew Paterna of the South Windsor Food Alliance, said the market supports the local economy and the health of the community.

“Our goal here is to make more healthy food - local food from local farmers - accessible to people in our community,” Paterna said. “We can combat the idea of fast food and bring in slow food – the idea that people should be buying local food and having dinner together with their family.”

In addition to groceries and gifts, the market will also offer plenty to attract children, including free pony rides, a bouncy house and a reptile handler, depending on the week.

It’s a strategic attempt to build a healthy food system from the bottom, starting by teaching its youngest consumers that food doesn’t start out shrink-wrapped in a supermarket.

“We’re trying to bring more kids to the market,” Paterna said. “We want younger kids to be at farmers markets, to understand and make better food choices as they get older. We look at kids as a key component to this." 

South Windsor is one of a few towns in the state that have caught on to the wisdom of a winter market. It’s thanks to the support of the town, Paterna said.

“We are really lucky to have a Parks and Recreation Commission that looked at this as an approach to supporting and developing healthy communities… it’s a very progressive, innovative Parks and Rec Department and Commission.”