04/05/2007

AU Farmers' Market Kicking Off 2007 Season

AUBURN, Ala. — The Market at Ag Heritage Park, a grower-only farmers’ market located on the Auburn University campus, will kick off the 2007 season Thursday, April 19, as part of the AU Earth Day celebration.

The kickoff event, which is being called “Auburn Spring,” will offer fresh spring produce, plants, exhibits and music as part of the AU Earth Day festivities.

The Market, located at Ag Heritage Park on Samford Avenue in Auburn, will be open from 3 to 6 p.m. and will feature strawberries, greens, onions, broccoli, tomatoes and other spring produce. In addition, vendors will be selling bedding, vegetable and landscape plants; baked goods; goat cheese; stone-ground grains; and honey. There also will be educational booths featuring information on sustainability and environmental awareness as well as information from several Auburn University clubs and organizations.

Beginning at 6:30 p.m., Ag Heritage Park’s market space will be transformed into an outdoor music venue featuring bluegrass and reggae music from well-known regional bands BPM and Blue 32. Local residents are invited to bring blankets or lawn chairs and a picnic dinner (or buy dinner on the market grounds) and settle in for an evening of music to celebrate spring.

Prior to the Auburn Spring celebration, the Auburn University Environmental Institute and AU Sustainability Initiative will observe Earth Day by hosting day-long exhibitions, student competitions and music at Foy Student Union. The Auburn University Earth Day program begins at 10 a.m. in the Foy Union ballroom with more than 40 exhibitors addressing a variety of environmental issues.

Admission to the campus-wide Earth Day program, The Market and the concert are free and open to the entire community.

The Market and the concert are hosted by the AU College of Agriculture. The Market at Ag Heritage Park began in 2004 and is cosponsored by the College of Agriculture, the Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station and the Alabama Cooperative Extension System. It will hold several 2007 spring market days in May, then the weekly market season will begin on June 7 and will be held each Thursday from 3 to 6 p.m. through the end of August.

For more information on Auburn Spring, contact Katie Jackson at 334-844-5887 or smithcl@auburn.edu.

-30-

News from:

Office of Ag Communications & Marketing

Auburn University College of Agriculture
Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station
3 Comer Hall, Auburn University
Auburn, AL 36849

334-844-4877 (PHONE) 334-844-5892 (FAX)

Contact: Jamie Creamer, 334-844-2783 or jcreamer@auburn.edu

For immediate release