Covid-19 was a huge eye-opener for so many people when it came to the availability of food, especially when quality and safety of the food available was in question. Educating families on the fresh food available to them locally, while encouraging family engagement, has been a driving force in the development of Logan County Extension Services’ Sweet Summer Time at The Farmers’ Market program. It is a community event, held at the Logan County Extension Complex in conjunction with the Logan County Farmers’ Market, to educate families on local foods and invite them to visit the Farmers’ Market. This year’s event, like recent years, was drive-through event where further interaction is strongly encouraged. 

One of the main goals of the event is to provide family friendly incentives to youth that encourage families to get active together as well as introduce the youth and their parents to the Farmers’ Market to see, first hand, what produce or other products they can find locally. While there, they are also able to uncover all the great benefits the Farmers’ Market has to offer. An additional benefit of this program is the cooperation and partnership with the Farmers’ Market vendors. Youth and families are able to meet the vendors and talk about the items they have to offer and how it is grown locally. The Farmers’ Market vendors also financially benefit from the redemption of “Farmers’ Market Bucks,” an in-house currency provided by the Logan County Extension Service to encourage youth to try new produce items without fear of the possible financial burden, that are distributed to each youth participant as an incentive item.

The targeted audience is preschool age through middle school youth. Each youth client received a bag with summer family activities and healthy eating educational activities along with Farmers’ Market Bucks to spend at the Farmers’ Market.  In summer of 2022, a total of 174 youth and 257 total individuals participated in the event and $1,183 Farmers’ Market Bucks were redeemed at the Farmers’ Market.