GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Florida Organic Growers, Alachua County Office of Sustainability, Little Bean Productions, Blue Oven Kitchens and Buy Local North Central Florida are pleased to announce a Cash Mob at the Alachua County 441 Farmers Market (5920 NW 13th Street). The goal of the event is to gather a crowd to promote local economic development through community education and solidarity. Each person is asked to spend $20 at the 441 Farmers Market. The event will take place on Saturday, February 4th, 2012, and will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. This family event will have a bounce house, a vegan and local foods vendor (The Loving Hut), Waldorf school kid’s activities and other exciting events for kids. A short film will be produced about this event to educate our community about farmers markets in Alachua County.
Cash Mobs encourage people to support local businesses by spending a small amount of money as a group to give a big economic boost to local business owners. The February 4th 441 Cash Mob aims to support the local food economy by increasing the viability of farm enterprises. Everyone benefits when local farmers are supported: the community’s capacity to provide access to healthy, fresh food is enriched, citizens become healthier and this all promotes sustainability. Florida Organic Growers (FOG) Executive Director, Marty Mesh said, “This fun filled family oriented event demonstrates how easy it is to make a significant impact on our local economy though investing in our local businesses and community.” Continuing, he said “Small ideas can have big results.”
FOG will additionally be incentivizing SNAP beneficiaries by doubling the first ten dollars of someone’s SNAP purchase while funds are available. Funds are limited so corporate contributions are welcome.
Cash Mobs have been sprouting up throughout the United States recently and are modeled after Flash Mobs, events where large groups of people gather to celebrate artistic expression. Cash Mobs add the element of supporting local businesses by encouraging people to show up, as a group, with a $20 bill and use it to support the local business of your choice. The spirit of a Cash Mob is encompassed with the motto, “We each do a little. We all do a lot.” By joining forces in our community, we are able to have a greater impact than our singular actions could.
FOG is funded by Alachua County to operate EBT technology at the Saturday 441 Alachua County Farmers Market through Sept. 30, 2012. The USDA, through the Farmers Market Promotion Program (FMPP), has also funded education and outreach for FOG to conduct this work.
For more information about the EBT project, visit www.foginfo.org/farmersmarket.php, call 352.377.6345 or email education@foginfo.org.
Saturday, February 4th
8:30 – 1:00
Alachua County 441 Farmers Market
5920 NW 13th Street in Gainesville, FL
at the corner of State Road 121 (NW 13th St)
and U.S. 441 in an open air metal pavilion
RTS: Shands to Northwood Village (Sat.) – #408
The Goal:
To educate the community about local economic development by each spending $20 at the farmers market to support
farm enterprises in North Central Florida
SNAP Benefits doubled up to $10 while supplies last
#cmgnv FB Event: 441 Cash Mob danielle@foginfo.org 352.377.6355
This presentation is based on work supported under the Farmers Market Promotion Program (FMPP) Grant Program, Agricultural Marketing Service, USDA, under Award #FL-367-2011-6-1321, and by the Alachua County Board of County Commissioner’s Community Agency Partnership Program.
BUY LOCAL NORTH CENTRAL FLORIDA!!
Interested in learning more about buying local? Blue Oven Kitchens and Slow Food Gainesville have created the Buy Local North Central Florida campaign to educate our community about the importance of buying from local and independent businesses, and to make it easier for our community to identify those businesses.
Want to help the Buy Local NCF movement learn more about what our community knows about “buying local” and wants to see more of locally? Please complete the SURVEY by January 31st on the Buy Local North Central Florida website.
