Durango’s first Market on Main last Saturday with the usual vendors from the TBK parking lot plus some additions over three blocks, partially back to back, gave those into exercise an opportunity for additional market “steps” (Herald, Aug. 10). The three blocks’ length – 9th, 10th and 11th – made it possible to include more vendors, up to about 110 (with a waitlist of another 40), but more important put the market center stage in downtown Durango.
Market goers – including tourists who may not have been aware of the TBK location off 8th Street a block west of Main – could be subject to the magnetic forces that would draw them into everyday Main Avenue retailers, coffee shops and restaurants with wide-open doors and air-conditioning along the three blocks. That was in addition to a market food court of sorts in the parking lot across from Carver’s. The expanded market integrated indoor and outdoor businesses in one larger location and local agriculture, food and community.
For all of the above, we say ‘well done’ to Anna Knowles, Director of the Durango Farmers Market, Ellen Babers, Community Events Manager with the City of Durango, and Tim Walsworth, Executive Director of the Business Improvement District who thought that the Main Avenue location would be worthy of a test and set the second Saturdays of August, September and October for the experiment.
Our expectation is that those who enjoy the downtown and the merchants there are looking forward to the second Saturday in September and October.
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As with any ecosystem, agriculture depends on the interaction between conditions on the ground, those who steward the land – and the consumers who sustain it. Without consumers, agricultural producers lose the revenue they need to reinvest in their operations year after year.
Beyond abundant sunshine, fertile soil, and plentiful water, it’s producer – consumer relationships that make the remarkable work of agriculture possible. That’s why federal cuts to SNAP, the nation’s food assistance program, will ripple far beyond the individuals who rely on it. SNAP beneficiaries, producers, grocery stores, and food retailers that accept SNAP payments – along with those who provide nutrition education – will all take a hit. Fewer dollars to spend means fewer sales, lost jobs, and the disappearance of education programs funded by these resources.
So much for making America healthy again. As of Sept. 30, all nutrition and SNAP education programs in Colorado – including those run by Manna, the Southwest Area Health Education Center, and Fort Lewis College’s Grub Hub – will be canceled.
Last year alone, the Durango Farmers Market saw $20,000 in revenue from SNAP and the Double Up Food Bucks program, according to market director Anna Knowles. Double Up, funded through USDA’s Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program, state funds, and private philanthropy, allows SNAP recipients to double their benefits (up to a set limit) for fresh fruits and vegetables at participating farmers markets and grocery stores.
With the elimination of SNAP-Ed – and $6.3 million in Colorado funds gone with it – this is yet another example of the broad, often unseen consequences of federal budget decisions. For now, as with so much in the redistribution of federal resources, we wait and see.
