AUGUST 13, 2009 ISSUE
Let’s Whip Michigan Again!
No, Not With Our Football Skills This Time—With Our Farmers’ Market.
34-32? That’s nothing. The Love Your Farmers’ Market vote stands at 2,501-35, and we’re going to beat Michigan hollow—if you vote today!
Well, heck, we all know that the Watauga Farmers’ Market is fabulous—so is there any reason why Flint, Michigan’s market is absolutely DECIMATING ours in the quest to win the title of best loved market in the country?
Care2, the petition website, in partnership with LocalHarvest.org, will award $5,000 to the winner, along with $250 prizes each week for random markets. There are four runner-up prizes—$3,000, $2,000 and two $1,000 prizes. The 20 most excellent vote “recruiters” will also win $50 apiece, which should buy them a pretty nice dinner of grass-fed beef and heirloom tomatoes.
“Well, our regular customers know why we should win, but maybe a few extra people will just want to see a Michigan upset again!” snickered Karen Bauman, the market manager.
So how about it? The money—should we win it—is urgently needed. Although market fans are thrilled that last year’s parking problems when students returned to town won’t be repeated, ease of parking comes with a hefty price. Now that ASU will no longer sublease the lot where the farmers’ market takes place, the market’s rent has exploded from $4,000 to $10,000, and it also faces a possible move to parts unknown two years from now.
No one denies that we’re facing another David and Goliath battle. The Flint, Mich. market, as of writing, has 2,501 votes and we have a measly 35 (now that’s just pitiful). But hey! If our scrappy 1AA football team could pull off “the biggest upset ever” by trouncing a Division 1A team, why can’t the rest of us put our shoulders to the wheel?
All it takes is a few moments. You have until September 17 to make this happen. Go—today—to www.care2.com/farmersmarket. Find Boone. Vote. Concerned about spam? Care2 has a privacy policy, but if you’re nervous, take a cue from the many people who keep a free “junk” mail address from gmail or Hotmail for just such occasions.
Then pass the word to everyone on your email list (use the BCC field for their privacy) and encourage them to vote, too. Of course, if you know Jerry Moore, Armanti Edwards, Corey Lynch, Julian Rauch, or any of the myriad ASU football fans, just ask if they’re interested in making it a twofer.
And take a minute to reflect on all the reasons to love your farmers’ market: fresh goat cheese, truly free-range eggs—who knew they could come in delicate shades of blue before discovering our market? Corn picked that morning, and dinosaur kale, and sunflowers, and local honey, and cinnamon buns, and “raw” chips, and scorching local hot sauce, and cabbages with poems tucked inside. The boisterous bustle of old friends and new, chattering and laughing. Grass-fed beef and hormone-free chickens that have never seen the inside of reeking battery operations. Blackberry jam, fresh pasta, scones. Oh man. Can we really only vote once each?
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