Home Delivery New Feature at Outdoor P’ville Farmers Market
The Pleasantville Farmers Market will return to its outdoor location this Saturday, while introducing a new feature that will allow residents who can’t make it to Memorial Plaza to experience the market as well.
This summer, Foodchester, the nonprofit that operates the market, will offer home delivery through a service called Fresh Nation. Foodchester President Peter Rogovin said home delivery is a way to reach customers who are unable to attend the market due to age, health or other commitments, rather than deter people who otherwise could visit the market in person.
“There’s no reason to believe that people would not be motivated to come to our market. If there is a person who says [they’re] going to stay home and order instead of coming, it’s probably because visiting was very tough for them,” Rogovin said.
He explained that home delivery is an extension of Foodchester’s mission to allow all residents to interact with farmers and have access to local foods.
Currently, orders for delivery are accepted online at www.pleasantvillefarmersmarket.org or www.freshnation.com. The market will have a dedicated page where residents can browse through the list of vendors and digitally place their orders until Fridays at noon. Fresh Nation will then send trained personal food shoppers to purchase the items for customers and will make a same-day delivery to customers anywhere in Westchester for a fee of under $10.
“Bringing the Pleasantville Farmers Market online and offering same-day home delivery of customer orders strengthens the market by making it accessible to residents who cannot get to the market on any given Saturday, and increases the business of the market’s vendors through orders from residents of other Westchester towns who might not have their own Saturday farmers market,” said Anthony Lee, a representative of Fresh Nation, which launched last summer in Fairfield County, Conn.
This season the market will feature 55 vendors. The Market Sprouts kids program will teach children about healthy choices, while talks on health and sustainability by nutritionist Marina Stopler will educate adults on topical issues.
The farmers market will once again offer weekly entertainment and an inviting atmosphere. Opening day will feature a musical performance by Le Nozze di Carlo, an Italian jazz group that impressed market shoppers last year.
“I remember when they came to the market the first time, this one moment where she started singing the beautiful aria, and … people just heard this woman singing and they dropped their bags and started looking,” Rogovin said. “It was one of those magical moments.”
This year, the Pleasantville Farmers Market will continue its mission of community outreach. Organizers developed a $2,500 scholarship, which was awarded to Pleasantville High School senior Cary Chapman. Chapman plans to study environmental science at Brown University.
Since the Pleasantville Farmers Market became a nonprofit venture, it has grown in popularity, attracting more than 2,500 shoppers weekly. Geosurveys conducted by Foodchester revealed that 60 percent of shoppers come from outside Pleasantville. Many of those travel from towns that have markets or pass multiple markets on their way.
Rogovin said the 13-member Foodchester Board of Directors and the interns and volunteers who have devoted more than 3,500 hours of their time to the market work hard to create an atmosphere that entices people to Pleasantville.
“We think about how to create this experience that makes people, when they wake up on Monday morning … say, ‘You’ve got to go to this farmers market, you’ve got to go to Pleasantville.’ We’re trying to create an experience that’s really good for the shopper and also good for the village,” Rogovin said.
The Pleasantville Farmers Market will be open Saturdays from May 24 through Nov. 22 from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
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