Kensington Youthmarket Opens Next Week

Get ready, aficionados of fresh produce, the Kensington Youthmarket will be in full swing outside the Brooklyn Public Library at Windsor Terrace on Fort Hamilton Parkway as of next Saturday, July 12.

The GrowNYC youthmarket, which offers all kinds of yum-tastic produce (Peaches! Apples! Kale! Cilantro! Cabbage!), operates every Saturday on Fort Hamilton Parkway between E 5th and E 4th streets from 9am to 4pm through Nov. 22.

Run in partnership with Family Cook productions, a nonprofit that promotes nutritional education, the market sells items from numerous farms around the state, including Davenport Farms, Hoeffner Farms, Mead Orchards, Migliorelli Farm, Prospect Hill Orchards, Reeves Farms, and others. In addition to their greens and fruits, the market also features regular cooking demonstrations by Family Cook’s Teen Iron Chefs.

Modeled after the city’s greenmarket program, which was launched in the 1970s to promote regional agriculture, the youthmarket is an attempt to address a lack of fruits and vegetables in neighborhoods while at the same time helping young people to gain business experience.

From the GrowNYC website:

Youthmarket is a network of urban farm stands operated by neighborhood youth, supplied by local farmers, and designed to bring fresh fruits and vegetables to communities throughout New York City. Through Youthmarket, families in NYC have increased access to farm fresh food; youth in these areas have earned money and learned small-business skills; and farmers in the New York City region are achieving higher revenue through access to under-served markets.

Partly as a result of the inaccessibility of affordable fresh fruits and vegetables, many neighborhoods in New York City are experiencing epidemic rates of diet-related disease like obesity and diabetes. At the same time, the NYC Dept. of City Planning reports that more and more supermarkets are closing. Youthmarket, which is based on the Greenmarket model, seeks to overcome this problem by linking regional farmers with underserved consumers in New York City. Communities benefit from an influx of fresh, healthy food and farmers access new markets without the costs associated with retailing.

Photo via GrowNYC