May through October, Springfield Farmers’ Market is fresh and lively every Friday from 3-7PM at the Library Fountain Plaza at 5th and A Street in Springfield. The Market is closed and will reopen May 2012.

Sprout! Update (Formerly known as Regional Community Food Hub)
We are all getting very excited about the possibilities of what's to come when NEDCO officially opens the Sprout! building at 4th and A Street to the public in 2012! Many thanks to the 50 farmers, vendors, potential kitchen users, and community members that attended one or more of the six focus groups offered throughout September. Based on the information this group gave to us, we know that demand, design, management, and business services are very important components that will be taken into consideration as we plan for managing and building the facility. Here is a rough breakdown of other important components that we learned from community stakeholders during the focus group process:

• Stakeholders stated the importance of having access to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) systems, as well as credit and debit, to accommodate all types of payment.
• There was a resounding "Yes!" from each focus group when asked if there is a demand for this type of space.
• Sprout! has the potential to provide a flexible layout for kitchen and year-round market space, as well as provide access to an on-site expert that knows about food safety, state/federal regulations, insurance, and business advice to offer consulting services to business owners.
• Stakeholders state that many components, including a play structure for children, a community and/or educational garden, flexible hours, classroom facility, and anchor businesses, will draw in the community.
• Stakeholders state that many components, including a play structure for children, a community and/or educational garden, flexible hours, classroom facility, and anchor businesses, will draw in the community.
• Potential kitchen users that currently have small businesses foresee a growth of 1 to 5 employees after establishing their businesses with the commercial kitchen space.

In the coming months, NEDCO will be building Sprout!'s Advisory Board and additional working groups as needed. These volunteer opportunities will provide NEDCO staff with additional resources to develop both management and finance structures that will best accommodate volunteer's while achieving the Sprout! impact statement:
...to increase consumption of locally grown food by removing barriers to entry to the local food business cluster (production, processing, and sales); to increase outlets for consumer access including low-income access to food; and, to increase connections across the local community food systems.
Please stay tuned for specific volunteer opportunities as we put these structures into place regarding next steps for Sprout!

As always, make sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter for the latest and greatest developments.

Springfield Farmers' Market is an open-air marketplace for locally produced fresh vegetables, fruits, and plants. It is open every Friday during the May-October growing season in downtown Springfield, Oregon. Please check out the pages on this website to learn more about our local Farmers' Market.

Springfield Farmers' Market is currently accepting vendor applications for our 2011 season, click here for more information. To learn more about Springfield Farmers’ Market view our economic effect on downtown Springfield in our SEED Report or see how the market is supporting healthy eating through SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) incentives like Match Month.

Getting to the Market:

Street-side parking is available, or you may park in the Booth-Kelly lot at 5th and South B Street.

We are also adjacent to the Springfield Transit Station at 4th and South A streets.