Come to the North Market for a Saturday of farm-tastic fun during the 19th Annual Farmers’ Festival on Saturday, August 14th. The annual event held at the prime of the Ohio growing season will highlight bushels of locally grown farm-fresh produce, a homemade jam and jelly contest, the Chef Challenge: “You say to-may-to, I say to-mah-to”, children’s activities, cooking demonstrations and live music. 

The North Market Farmers’ Market is one of the largest in central Ohio, featuring more than 20 farmers offering an array of locally-grown fruits, vegetables, flowers, plants, honey and herbs. Farms scheduled to participate this year include Anderson Orchard, Beech Meadow Farm, Blossom Acre’s Produce, Bridgman Farm, Combs Fresh Herbs, Ehmann and Sons Greenhouse, Elizabeth Telling Farm, Hinkle Farm, Honeyrun Farm, K & R Garden Fresh Produce, Oakvale Farmstead Cheese, Ohio Farm Direct, Thomas Family Orchard, Persinger Farm, Quiverfull Farm, Rhoads Farm, Shady Brook Farm, Somerset Greenhouse, Summer Thyme Farm, Toad Hill Farm, Toby Run Growers, The Wayward Seed Farm and Wishwell Farms Produce.

“Dating back to the early days at the Quonset Hut, our Farmers’ Market has become one of our community’s most cherished traditions,” said David Wible, Executive Director of the North Market. “Every Saturday morning North Market becomes a focal point for social gathering and it’s all drawn to the Market by a wonderful group of committed, high-quality growers. Each year, during the prime of our growing season we celebrate their hard work and tremendous fruits, vegetables and flowers at our Farmers Festival.”

Saturday Farmers’ Festival activities and attractions include:
•8 a.m., North Market Merchants & Farmers’ Market open
•9 a.m., amateur jam and jelly contest for North Market customers
•9 - 11 a.m., musical entertainment by One More Time String Band
•10 a.m. - 12 p.m., balloon twisting with Dr. Silverfoot

•10 a.m. - 12 p.m., free mini Farmers Market Sundaes from Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams
•10 a.m. - 3 p.m., face painting by Rita
•10:30 a.m., cooking demonstration TBA
•11 a.m. - 2 p.m., Mark Wood Cowboy Fun Show
•11 a.m. - 1 p.m., musical entertainment by Slate Ridge
•11 a.m. - 1 p.m., Columbus Dog Connection
•11:30 a.m., cooking demonstration, TBA
• 12:30 p.m., “You say to-may-to, I say to-mah-to”, Chef cooking contest
•1 - 3 p.m., musical entertainment by Loosely Strung
•1:30 p.m., cooking demonstration, TBA
•2:30 p.m., cooking demonstration, TBA
•3 p.m. - 5 p.m., Musical entertainment by Cowboy Hillbilly Hippy Folks

The Farmers’ Festival runs on Saturday, August 14 from 8 a.m. - 4 p.m. and is a free event. For more information about the Farmers’ Festival or to sign-up for the Amateur Jelly and Jam contest, please call Mary at the North Market at (614) 463-9664.

The first CupcakeCampColumbus was a sugary success staged in the back parlor of the Surly Girl Saloon this past May. For round two, Revenge of CupcakeCampColumbus, organizers Carmen Owens of Surly Girl Saloon and Kiesha Jenkins-Duffy of the blog 52 Weeks of Baking have teamed up with the North Market’s  Mary Martineau. The trio will bring on an even bigger baking event that will take place on Saturday, October 10 from 1 to 3 p.m. in the Dispatch Kitchen at the North Market. Keep up with the ongoing details of Revenge of CupcakeCampColumbus on the official event website here>.  The new location also brings a new round of categories to submit for judging the cupcakes. Approximately forty different flavors of cupcakes created by local amateur bakers (REGISTRATION FOR BAKERS CLOSED, LIMIT REACHED) will be featured. This round’s classifications include:

Best Harvest Cupcake: These cupcakes should scream ‘Autumn’. Use of fall fruits or vegetables encouraged and decorating the cupcakes like shocks of hay or other fall imagery a plus.

Best North Market-Inspired: The North Market features a little of everything and so should these cupcakes. Think cupcakes inspired by Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream flavors. Or turn up the heat a little and bake a cupcake that would make CaJohn proud. Myriad options available here.

Best Ohio Pride: These cupcakes would make any Ohioan proud. Use all Ohio ingredients. Bake cupcakes in the shape of Ohio. Decorate with OSU colors. Go crazy!

Best Decorated: As simple as it sounds. Bust out your Wilton piping bag or consult your copy of “Hello Cupcake!”

Best Vegan: No animal products here! We want the tastiest cupcake you can create without using milk, eggs, butter or any other animal product.

Best Halloween: Get creative and dress those cupcakes up in their best costumes! Disguise a cupcake as something else, make fondant ghosts or create a haunted cupcake house!

Local celebrities, bakers and other experts will be on hand to judge each category and fabulous prizes will be awarded to the winners. Applications for cupcake bakers and tickets for cupcake eaters are now available. To register to be a cupcake baker visit (Edit baker registration closed)  If you’re not a baker, but you’re n avid cupcake eater and you’d like to attend, tickets are $10 with the proceeds benefiting the Mid-Ohio Food Bank and can be purchased online (EDIT: event now sold out).

Finally, if you’re all about quantity over quality, perhaps you’d like to enter the Cupcake Crush. In this contest the first intrepid eater to finish twenty mini cupcakes provided by the Surly Girl Saloon will take home a special award.

Revenge of CupcakeCampColumbus is sponsored by Surly Girl Saloon, 52 Weeks of Baking, North Market, CrimsonCup Coffee, Snowville Creamery and Wholly Craft. The event will take place on Saturday, October 10 from 1 to 3 p.m. in the Dispatch Kitchen of the North Market. Admission is free for registered cupcake bakers, but space is limited. Only 100 tickets are available for $10 each to the general public. SOLD OUT

The North Market Harvest Festival is helping to kick off Local Matters Local Foods Week on Saturday, October 3. In addition to our usual extravaganza of harvest produce, baking contests, live music and kids’ activities, this year as part of their Local Foods Week celebration, Local Matters worked to pair local chefs with some of our farmers to do cooking demonstrations right out of their stalls.This festival is a fun one for the kiddies with a plethora of activities and entertainment. Mark Wood will be twisting balloon animals and executing fancy rope tricks. Rita Miller will be on hand for fanciful full face painting. There will be give-aways of cookies and apples and the Columbus Jaycees will return for their annual stint of offering harvest-inspired crafts. Not to mention, if you are looking for a new four-legged friend, the Columbus Dog Connection will be on hand with adoptable dogs.

Enterprising customers have several opportunities to take home a prize in our Harvest Festival baking contests. In the pumpkin bread contest, entrants are invited to submit their version in loaf or muffin form. Our two other contests feature the time-honored tradition of pie baking and participants can submit their favorite pumpkin or apple pies for judging. The first place winner of the bread competition will win $50 in North Market gift certificates and each pie competition winner will receive $100 in North Market gift certificates. All home-baked entries will be available for purchase with proceeds benefiting the nonprofit North Market Development Authority. To register or for more information, please call the North Market at (614) 463-9664. Participation is limited to 12 entries per contest.

“Having the Harvest Festival as the kickoff for Local Matters Local Foods Week is a perfect combination that highlights both our activities and our mission to support local businesses.” said David Wible, Executive Director of the North Market. “You will see and taste that mission in action with our local chefs preparing recipes right in our farmers’ stalls.”

Scheduled Harvest Festival activities include:
• Farmers’ Market and North Market merchants open at 8 a.m.
• Market to Market breakfast in the Dispatch Kitchen, 8 - 10 a.m.
• Cooking demonstrations with local chefs at farmer stalls, 9 - 11 a.m.
• Live music by Folk Wood Players, 9 - 11 a.m.
• Mark Wood Cowboy Fun Show, 10 a.m. - 1 p.m.
• Joy Unspeakable, the Living Statue, 10 a.m. - 12 p.m.
• Face painting, 10 a.m. - 3 p.m.
• Free pumpkin cookies for the kids, courtesy of Mozart’s Bakery, 10 a.m. while supply lasts.
• Free apples for the kids, 10 a.m. while supply lasts.
• Autumn crafts with the Columbus Jaycees, 11 a.m. - 1 p.m.
• Columbus Dog Connection, 11 a.m. - 1 p.m.
• Live music by Slate Ridge, 11 a.m. - 1 p.m.
• Pumpkin Bread contest, 12 p.m.
• Pumpkin Pie contest, 1 p.m.
• Apple pie contest, 2 p.m.
• Face painting, 10 a.m. - 3 p.m.
• Live music by Willie Phoenix, 1 - 4 p.m.

The North Market Harvest Festival begins at 8 a.m. and is a free event. For more information or to sign-up for any of the contests, please call the North Market at (614) 463-9664 or email info@northmarket.com

Two of Columbus’ premiere independent, locally-owned specialty foods markets are partnering to celebrate the bounty that Ohio producers bestow upon our great state. The Hills Market and North Market share not only a philosophical connection: one that makes it a priority to provide and promote the best Ohio has to offer to consumers, but also a physical connection: the Olentangy River Greenway (or more commonly, the Olentangy Bike Trial). Join both markets on Saturday, October 3, as they connect to celebrate the end of a great summer season with “Market to Market”: a cross-city local foods-centric bike ride, for amateurs and aficionados alike. Market to Market will be the kick-off event for Local Matters Local Foods Week in Columbus.

Participants have the option of registering to start at either market and fuel up with breakfast before embarking on the 13 mile adventure to the market at the other end of the bike trail. Each participating rider will be issued a local foods passport at the beginning of their journey. Bikers can collect stamps along the way by visiting with local vendors and organizations set up along the path including Pattycake Bakery, Ohio Proud, Sustainable Worthington, Greenovate and Local Matters. Participants who show completed passports at their destination market will be rewarded with a scoop of Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream and a reusable bag filled with coupons and goodies from local foods purveyors. Those intrepid enough to bike back to their market of origin will receive a completely different bag of goodies, creating a total value of $50 worth of savings and samples.

Market to Market will take place on Saturday, October 3. Registration is $10 in advance and $15 at the door. The cost includes breakfast, a scoop of Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream (at either location), and reusable shopping bags from both locations filled with up to $50 worth of savings on Ohio foods. Breakfast will be served at both locations from 8- 10a.m. to allow for riders to eat and set out on the trail at their leisure. Jeni’s ice cream will be available at both locations upon ride completion. Early egistration for the breakfast and ride is closed at this time. Participating organizations and sponsors include: The Hills Market, North Market, Local Matters, CrimsonCup Coffee, Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams, WCBE, Central Ohio’s NPR Station, Amanda Hills Spring Water, Fat Rabbit Racing, Greenovate, Ohio Proud, Pattycake Bakery and Sustainable Worthington.

Columbus-based, Local Matters is a not-for-profit organization that believes the choice to grow and consume local food has the power to affect social, economic and environmental change in our communities. They are committed to making local, sustainably farmed, healthy food available to everyone - and from October 3 through October 9, they’re doing it in a big way with Local Matters Local Food Week. The week kicks-off with the Market-to-Market bike ride and breakfast, includes a fundraiser on Thursday, October 8 at The Hills Market, and will conclude with a Local Food Finale on Friday, October 9. The entire Columbus-area community is invited to add a little more delicious to their lives with Local Foods Week celebrating our Local Food System: Farm to Fork, Urban Ag and Local Food to School. For more information and a detailed schedule visit www.local-matters.org