Bright Horizons Launches Its Own Farmers' Market

Photo credit: Bright Horizons Facebook page

Students at Bright Horizons at Sudbury last week enjoyed “On the Farm,” where they explored things such as the color and texture of soil and straw, the shapes and sizes of things that grow on a farm, and more. Using toy tractors, brushes, and books, they brought the “farm to life.” Inspired by a successful On the Farm Week, Bright Horizons brings a new farmers’ market to town.

The first Bright Horizons farmers’ market is Saturday, Oct. 4, at 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. It features produce from local farmers, crafts from local artisans, bake sale hosted by the children, children’s activities and more.

“The idea for the farmer’s market came when the center was planning on adding garden beds to our ‘back yard,’” said Karen Kerr, field marketing specialist at Bright Horizons at Sudbury. “ We wanted to involve the children in all the stages of the gardening and then picking and selling our vegetables. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to get the garden beds installed early enough for a full season of growing, but we still wanted to host the market as a valuable lesson for the children.”

Holding this event covers many areas of learning, including Bright Horizons’ Garden Works curriculum element. Additional our Well Aware curriculum element, which focuses on healthy eating will of course be showcased, explained Kerr.

“As a treat for those that attend we’ll be hosting a make your own trail mix bar with many healthy options for kids and adults. We are also teaching the children about philanthropy with our bake sale with the money from this and the trail mix bar going to support the Bright Horizons Foundation for Children. Other pieces of learning include commerce and supporting our local businesses. It’ll be great for all of our children to experience firsthand the market and how it’s run and the perfect opportunity for us to invite the community to our center to see what we are all about. At this point it will be a one-time event, however depending on how things go there are possibilities for us to do more next year.”

Vendors at the market include Watters and Daughters Soap Company, Bez Woods wooden art pieces, Hair Sprinkles hair accessories, Gussy Interior designs, Owl Nugget crafts, Ava Anderson beauty products, Bartlett’s Family Farms and House of Dance.