Ann Yonkers is the co-director of FreshFarm Markets, a nonprofit organization that promotes the local selling of crops from the Chesapeake Bay region. The organization’s first market in Dupont Circle has a customer base of more than 100,000 and has been named by The Wall Street Journal as one of the top farmers markets in the country.
When did FreshFarm Markets start?
It was founded in 1997, and the first market was in Dupont Circle. We actually run eight farmers markets — four are in Maryland, and four are in Washington, D.C. FreshFarm market producers are from the five states in the Chesapeake Bay watershed — Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia and Pennsylvania.
What are the benefits to buying food at the markets?
We think it’s really important to eat locally. It’s important, but it’s also a pleasure — the quality of food is so high. Also, the farmer puts money back in his pocket. So there’s the flavor, your health and the environment — lessening your carbon footprint. There are so many things that make it make sense. The most important thing about it is that it’s a producer-only market. Everyone in our markets produces or grows what we sell. We have fruits, vegetables, flowers, meats, eggs — a wide variety. Delicious revolution. How you eat and who benefits from your food is the most important. It’s a pleasurable form of environmentalism. Markets are burgeoning all over the country.
When are they open?
All of our markets are weekly — four hours long. The one in Dupont Circle is year-round — rain or shine, snow or sleet. We’ve had cooking demos under a tent with snow falling — we had to shovel out a parking lot. We’ve got some great pictures of that. Other markets are seasonal, from April to November. We get asked a lot, “What do you sell in the winter?” Milk, cheeses, root vegetables, apples, meat, eggs. Obviously, you have less products to sell.
