KC Food Circle hosts ‘Eat Local and Organic Expo’ tomorrow at JCCC
If you haven’t made plans for tomorrow – Saturday, March 29 – and would like the opportunity to talk to local farmers and buy local organic produce, vegetable seedlings for home gardening, free-range meat, eggs and dairy, the Kansas City Food Circle presents the first of two spring “Eat Local and Organic Expos” at the Gym at Johnson County County College, 12345 College Boulevard, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. (The second expo is scheduled for April 12 in the gym at Penn Valley Community College.)
Admission to the event and parking are free.
Tomorrow’s event is the 16th annual expo mounted by the Kansas City Food Circle. Emily Akins, the co-coordinator (with David Lawrence), describes the one-day happening as “a really large farmers market with a whole lot of farmers to talk to and a lot of things to look at and purchase.”
“The first year we presented the expo,” Akins says, “we only had eight or 10 farmers participating, but 250 people came to the event. It’s grown to the point that we usually attract at least 1,000 people to each expo.”
Akins says the best time to arrive to the expo is in the morning (“Some things tend to sell out early,” she says), but other regular patrons have told her that they like to come at the last hour because some of the vendors are willing to make deals.
Organic barbecue will be sold at the event from the Smokin’ Fresh Streetside BBQ food truck. Akins says some of the vendors at the expo accept credit cards, but she strongly advises that patrons bring cash: “To be on the safe side,” she says.
