Hope you’re making the most of it.
As you know, Local Food Week starts today (Monday June 5) and runs until Sunday June 11.
At FMO, we hope your market is pulling out all the stops to make it a special event that celebrates all the things that make farmers’ markets so great! For example: Emphasize the unbeatable freshness shoppers get at your market by having your vendors post signs saying: “Picked this morning!” Ask them to provide free samples of their yummiest fare. Raffle off a “Market Goodie Basket.” Surprise and delight them. They’ll remember and they’ll be back.
FYI, Local Food Week is the brainchild of Foodland Ontario, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. They created Local Food Week as a celebratory kick-off to the outdoor market season. So mark it with a bang!
Create some buzz online about Local Food Week at your market.
Send a media release to your local radio station describing your event—and to your local daily, if your market day is Saturday or Sunday. (For tips on how to write a news release, log into the FMO website as a member, click on View Member-Only Resources and then scroll down to click on Media Tips: Tips for Writing News Releases.)
Use your social media channels to tell your customers about Local Food Week at your market and encourage them to invite their friends to check out your page—and your market (click here for social media tips!). Be sure to follow Foodland Ontario on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram. Use the hashtags #loveONTfood and #Foodland40 to share your market’s love of Ontario foods and urge your customers to use them, too, when they share photos of your market online. It’ll all add up to more fun, more customers, more engagement, and ultimately, more success for your market!