The StanFresh market will return this week with a fresh, new approach, following a one-year hiatus.
“It didn’t run last fall because I had a baby, so that’s why it’s in the spring this year,” said Dr. Rebekah Shrader, who teaches the Agricultural Markets and Pricing course that runs the market.
“It’s really fun. The students get really innovative. A year and a half ago, my class established a mobile cart, so in addition to the produce stand, they took the cart to various offices and sold a sample of our produce to students, faculty and staff,” she added.
For the first time this year, the market will coincide with four Warrior Wednesday events on campus and will include a booth located on the Quad.
“I think it will be really beneficial to have a booth on Warrior Wednesday because that already draws a lot of people out there,” said agricultural economics student Daryl Dias, who helped run the last market in fall 2018. “It will definitely attract more customers.”
Started in 2015, the StanFresh market offers the public produce harvested from the Sustainable Garden through a farmers’ market event on campus.
“StanFresh is experiential learning for my class,” Shrader said. “It’s excellent to be able to learn the economic material and then actually apply it in the real world.”
Dias agreed.
“My favorite task was advertising for the market,” she said. “I was in charge of the Instagram for StanFresh and I used it to announce upcoming markets, tag people in posts and shoot live video as the market was underway. Once we got the social media advertising up and running, we definitely saw an increase in customers.”
This year, the group will host at least two StanFresh markets — Feb. 26 and March 19. Both markets will accept cash and card from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Revenue will go toward supporting the agriculture program and the continuation of the project into the future.
Produce available at StanFresh includes kale, parsley, butternut squash, lemons, limes, tangerines, oranges and kumquats, with items varying at each market.
“We’ll be selling a lot of citrus given the time of year,” said Shrader. “A huge variety. It’s amazing! I believe we’ll have between 36 and 40 different varieties.”