By Heidi Nawrocki

 

Our volunteers spend countless hours behind the scenes working hard to bring you the market each week. Last year, I put together a post outlining what our volunteers do on a daily and weekly basis to bring the market each week to you, our customer. We all do this because we are passionate about bringing local food to the community and providing a space for families to gather and enjoy an afternoon together. And we are so lucky to have a new wave of volunteers climbing the ranks.

 

Each week, we have volunteers from the Bridgeport High School Key Club. They are often seen walking around the market, gathering any recycling that might not have made it into the blue bins scattered around the market. They always have recycled bottle bowling for the kids. And their latest addition? Compost! If you don't compost at home, be sure to bring your fruit and vegetable scraps as well as any lawn waste for the compost bins located near the market site.

 

We have a group of fantastic kids who are really growing into the future of the market. Our youngest market photographer, Chloee Crislip has really led the charge of our younger generation. She is out with her dad Frank of My Little Cupcake on Sunday mornings helping set up tents and tables. In between opening and closing bell, she is behind the camera snapping photos for the market. Be sure to check out her photo gallery on the right side of our website! Her brothers, Wyatt and Austin, are also there to help.

 

Just like the Crislip kids, some of our other volunteers bring their kids along to help. Sometimes that help is simply providing a photo for the "face of the BFM." These kids are getting to know each other and it is our hope that they continue to enjoy their volunteer time.

 

The latest volunteer effort by the new generation was a kid's chef demo. My son, Kole made a sugar cookie pizza topped with fresh berries a few weeks ago. He loves to volunteer for anything, so when the opportunity came up, he jumped on it! We hope his is the first of many kid's chef demos in the future! It was a fantastic opportunity to get up in front of people he didn't know and show what he likes to do, which is bake! If you'd like to recreate what Kole did at home with your own kids, start with you favorite sugar cookie dough. We rolled it flat and baked it. Kole then mixed some powdered sugar and vanilla into whipped cream cheese. Then he topped it with fresh black raspberries, strawberries, and blueberries.

If you see any of these kids around when you're shopping at the market, be sure to tell them "good job!" We hope to see many more new faces over the next few years in under our demo tent and out.

 

We are loving seeing what you have been getting at the market using the #mybfmhaul tag. Keep 'em coming and until next week, stay fresh!