Farmers Market
The Winchester Farmers Market starts the second Saturday in June and ends the last Saturday in October.
The market brings fresh produce from local farms, as well as provide opportunity for musicians, artisans, business, entrepreneurs, and organizations to participate. It makes for an engaging experience where we learn more about local and healthy foods and economy.
We also partner with WAN to provide a free table for their creative members, we had a kids program pre-covid called Kids Table to educate children of local seasonal food in a fun creative way, and have a extensive sponsored music program to give a platform for local musicians to be paid to play.
The Anna LaViolette Fund is a fund through donations that provides helps local residents of Woburn and Winchester in need to buy local fresh food in our market. It was created in 2019 to honor the memory of our great friend Anna LaViolette. Although with us for only two short years, the 85-year-old volunteer rarely missed a Saturday at the Market Manager’s tent. She embodied the spirit of what the Market aspires to be: always welcoming, inquisitive, vibrant, and socially conscious. She was a strong believer in our mission of making healthy, fresh food available to everyone.
Grow Local for the Planet is a group that shares regenerative gardening practices in our backyards, to help restore our soil as a means to mitigate climate change, to focus on native plants and trees, to increase our native birds and pollinators, and to grow a community of gardeners who share knowledge and learn from each other.
Gardens for Good is a newly formed community group who have committed to turning parts of our lawns into gardens and/or volunteering our time to grow fresh produce for neighbors who are patrons of the Council for Social Concern, the En Ka Food Pantry and the Crawford Memorial Church Food Pantry.
Farmers Market’s Special Days
Our big day is the Organizations Day in September, where non-profit organizations can promote their events and campaigns for the upcoming year, and residents can find more information about them and perhaps volunteer. We partner with local organizations at the market through out the season.
In the past (pre-covid), Winchester Music Day featured faculty and students from the local Winchester Community Music School, Art in The Park is sponsored by The Winchester Cultural Council and WAN, International Day celebrated our multicultural community and is sponsored by Winchester Multicultural Network, and Ability Awareness Day promoted and educated our community about disabilities – sponsored by the Winchester Disability Access Commission and Brio Integrated Theatre.
PAST PROGRAMS (pre CoVid)
We hope to start up old programs, start new programs and expand on our present ones.
Our Farm Tours
Ever wonder where all this great produce comes from?
Fred Yen, our market manager, visited the farms, who sell in our market, to see what they are growing, how they are growing it, and invited market guests to take the tour with him.
Winchester Vegetable Garden Tour(pre-Covid)
A fun tour that spaned all corners of Winchester. Vegetables mixed with flowers in the front yard, elevated gardens, growing in mobile containers, interesting watering systems, grown by elementary students, and outside a restaurant.
Climate Change Symposium:
Preparing Our Communities for Extreme Climate Change partnered with WinCAM
Part 1
Moderator Jim Braude, WGBH and NECN asks the keynote speaker and panelists various questions about Climate Change and its effects on our local communities. Presented by Sustainable Middlesex at the Jenks Senior Center, Winchester MA.
Preparing Our Communities for Extreme Climate Change – Part 2
Preparing Our Communities for Extreme Climate Change – Part 3
Brian Swett, Chief of Environment and Energy Services, Boston
Kathy Baskin, Director of Water Policy, MA Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs
Suzanne Condon, Associate Commissioner, MA DPH and Director of the Center for Environmental Health
Marie Jordon, Senior Vice President, National Grid
Cynthia McHale, Director of Insurance Program, CERES
Lectures, Films, & Talks Around Town(pre-Covid)
Through out the year, the WFMCHub has sponsored events such as Composting for Beginners workshop, How We Can Reverse Global Warming: The Good News, Composting and Soil Enrichment Tour, Spring Lecture & Film Series : Food Security & Food Access: Ending waste. Ensuring food for all, Above and Below… Our Watersheds and Our Rainwater film and lecture.