DUFB Summer 2012 Launch: Detroit Edition

What do you get when you mix 17 Fair Food Network (FFN) volunteers, 8 FFN staff, 7 community organizers, 4 market managers, and the one and only Detroit Eastern Market together? You guessed it—the 2012 Double Up Food Bucks Summer Launch Celebration!

On Saturday, July 14, FFN and community partners gathered at the historic market on Russell Street, donned their FFN t-shirts and hats, and greeted new and returning DUFB customers.

Volunteers spread around the market from the Welcome Center to Shed 5 to help inform new customers about the advantages of using DUFB tokens to access twice as much locally-grown fresh fruits and vegetables at the market. Eastside Farmers’ Market Manager Alisha Opperman worked the DUFB interactive map, pictured below, to show how Detroit Community Market group, Gleaner’s Fresh Food Share Program, and additional DUFB Detroit sites connect area residents to MI produce. Meanwhile, additional DUFB representatives spoke to customers to obtain feedback, handed out DUFB vegetable peelers, and prepared for the Taste of DUFB cooking demo. Department of Human Services Director Maura Corrigan and staff Ben Kohrman and Kari Mardyla-Goddard also participated in the event and a market tour with FFN and Eastern Market staff.

Detroit Community Markets interactive map

COLORS Restaurant Chef Phil Jones paired up with University of Michigan’s Integrative Medicine Fellow Alicia Cohen to serve up two delectable dishes made from Grown in Detroit’s farmers’ market vegetables. Chef Jones quickly transformed the bountiful produce into seasonal samples, and customers left raving about the arugula and mustard greens salad with warm balsamic vinaigrette.

COLORS Detroit Chef Phil Jones creates a taste of DUFB

From the cooking demo to the interactive map, the busy day mirrored the success of DUFB’s 2012 season thus far: overall program activity for June 2012 was 65% higher than in June 2011, and customers have already visited statewide markets nearly 10,000 times!

If you missed Detroit’s Summer Launch, don’t worry, FFN will be at Grand Rapids’ Fulton Street Farmers’ Market on Friday, August 10th from 10AM-3PM. We can’t wait to see what Silver Spork’s Molly Clauhs cooks up there! Volunteers are needed for a wide range of tasks—please contact lkohn@fairfoodnetwork.org if you’re available.