Crown Heights Farmers Market Could Return With City Funding

CROWN HEIGHTS, BROOKLYN — The neighborhood could get its farmers market back if City Council decides to provide the funding.

Seeds In The Middle, the charity organization that ran the Crown Heights Farmers Market from 2011 to 2014, requested discretionary funding from City Council to relaunch its market, organizers announced.

“The Crown Heights Farmers Market brought many people together to get fresh produce nearby for affordable prices,” organizers wrote. “Seeds in the Middle would like to bring back the market.”

Seeds In the Middle gathered 124 signatures on Change.org that were included in its application for city funds on Feb. 20, according to the petition.

The farmers market — which shut down the summer of 2014 when funding ran out — would continue as it once did, appearing on the corner of Lefferts and Albany avenues near Hamilton Metz Park every Thursday, organizers wrote.

The group also promised to bring back Health Bucks and Farmers Market Nutrition coupons, which vendors could accept in lieu of cash, wrote Seeds in the Middle.

Residents flocked to Change.org to support the farmers market and posted their reasons for signing their names.

“Crown Heights deserves access to fresh food from local farms,” wrote resident Rachel Carbonell.

Crown Heights resident Melissa Shelk signed her name to the petition, “because I live here and my life matters.”

Photo by Patch reporter Ciara McCarthy