This Saturday marks Kalamazoo’s first winter farmers’ market in the newly opened Don Cooney Cultivation Center, which the city parks department has been busy building this past year.
This time last year, the site by the summer market grounds was a barren field. Now it’s a nine thousand square-foot hall and event space.
Market bookkeeper Grace Hovda walked me through the lofty center. She said having a dedicated space will help vendors retain their summertime customers, particularly those who shop using food assistance benefits, which the winter market will be accepting for the first time.
“Most of the people we interact with on Saturdays are people coming up to swipe their card and receive tokens they can spend with the vendors," she said.
Hovda and volunteer McKenna Saunders listed the sorts of goods marketgoers will find Saturday: root vegetables, greens, apples, squash, baked goods, eggs, cheese and meat.
The center is named for longtime city commissioner Don Cooney, whose most recent term ended in November. Cooney did not run for reelection this year.
