For four days this week, residents of the Central and Kinsman neighborhoods will have a new place to shop for fresh, local produce and dairy products. 

The community food market – called a farm stop – is a mix between a farmers’ market and a small grocery store. It will operate inside the Shiloh Baptist Church. Organizers are hoping to establish a more permanent location but don’t yet have a timeline for when that will occur. 

The farm stop is part of an effort by the Central Kinsman Wellness Collective, a group of residents and community partners aiming to bring healthy, affordable grocery options to the two neighborhoods. The neighborhoods’ former grocery store — Dave’s at Arbor Park Place — closed in 2019.

Walter Patton, a member of the collective and lifelong resident of the Central neighborhood, said residents’ nearby options are now fairly limited: a gas station, where they sell “nothing but trash,” and fast food restaurants. A Family Dollar that many used to rely on recently closed. Neighbors, many of whom walk to the store, must currently make a 30- to 40-minute trek to buy fresh produce, Patton said. 

Patton said the new farm stop can help.  

“Having that option that’s somewhere close in the Central community means everything to not only me, but my neighbors,” Patton said.

While the farm stop is geared toward the Central and Kinsman neighborhoods, Rev. Dr. Lisa Goods, the senior pastor at Shiloh Baptist Church, encouraged other residents to stop by and shop in the coming days.

“This is open to everyone,” Goods said. “It’s not a church thing. It’s not just a Central thing. We want as many people as possible to come out and support this, because it is a pilot, and we need to demonstrate that this is a viable model.”

What is a farm stop?

Food at the farm stop will be sourced almost entirely from local and regional vendors, including Rid-All Green Partnership, T.H.E. U.A.I. and Hood Honey. Unlike a farmer’s market, though, vendors will not sell their products at individual stalls. Instead, the farm stop will be set up like a grocery store: produce together, dairy together, breads together. Farmers and producers don’t have to be on-site. 

That makes the business model more accessible, said Morgan B. Parks, the program manager for Central Kinsman Wellness Collective. 

“They’re able to sell without having to table and without having to market … if they don’t want to,” Parks said. 

Farmers and producers will set their own prices for products at the farm stop. 

Goods said the market’s focus on selling local products is a way to invest back in the community.

“The more we’re able to support local businesses, the stronger our community gets,” Goods said.

What’s next?

The four-day farm stop at Shiloh Baptist Church is just the start of the Central Kinsman Wellness Collective’s plans. Parks said the group would like to do another farm stop in the spring at a different location though plans are not finalized. 

The collective ultimately hopes to buy a building to open a permanent farm stop in the neighborhood. Parks said it hopes to obtain funding to help with start-up costs. 

The permanent farm stop will be vital in gaining the community’s trust and excitement, said Patton. He said residents want consistency. 

“We get these things here, and it’s like, they don’t stay,” Patton said. “So it’s like, when you try to get these residents to be excited, it’s like, ‘Yeah, we will be excited, but how long is it gonna be here?’”

The group also has to determine how the ownership structure of the permanent farm stop will work. They plan to set it up as a cooperative, which means it’s owned by the people who work, shop or sell there. Parks said the group hasn’t decided exactly what that will look like yet.   

What does the farm stop sell?

There will be produce, dairy, eggs, bread, baked goods and locally made goods. 

There will also be non-perishable food, Parks said. That includes coffee, drinks, pancake mix, oats, rice, quinoa, black beans, lentils, pickles and sauces.  

In addition to shopping, the farm stop will have cooking demonstrations and pumpkin decorating. 

How can I shop there?

The farm stop accepts cash, card and EBT. The first 20 people to show up each day will receive a coupon for $5 off.  

What farmers and producers will have products there?

Vendors will include:

• Rid-All Green Partnership
• The POD Project
• Hood Honey
• RevLove Farm
• Melanated Mushrooms
• Shalom & Tranquility Garden
• Loiter
• Radiant Blooms Homestead
• Oberlin Food Hub
• Foraged & Sown

Who are the community partners involved?

In addition to residents, the Central Kinsman Wellness Collective has a broad list of community partners. That includes Environmental Health Watch, the nonprofit through which the wellness collective is organized. The project received funding from BUILD Health, a philanthropic effort to improve health equity.   

Other partners include the community-wide FARE (Food Access Raises Everyone) initiative, the Cleveland Department of Public Health, Cleveland Owns, Loiter, Cleveland Fresh, Free Thinkers LLC and Sisters of Charity. The nonprofit community development corporation for the Central and Kinsman neighborhoods, Burton, Bell, Carr Development Inc., is also a partner.

This story was updated to reflect the correct name of T.H.E. U.A.I.