Starting this weekend, lovers of fresh, locally grown food won’t have to wait until next spring for their farmers market fix.
Fort Wayne’s Farmers Market will open from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday inside Parkview Field’s Lincoln Financial Event Center. The indoor market will be open every Saturday through May in the event center on the ballpark’s right-field concourse.
Coordinator Leigh Rowan, a Fort Wayne bread vendor, wants to see this indoor market focus on the standards customers expect. Too many markets, she says, turn into flea market-type events.
“It has been unfortunately allowed and misrepresented that the fact that some (vendors) go to these food auctions and then don’t say where they got (their food), so when people go home and they find stickers on the bottom of one of the apples or the tomatoes, they get very frustrated,” Rowan says. “The consumer assumed when they went to the farmers market that it would be a local market.”
Rowan anticipates she will soon reach the maximum capacity of food vendors at 40.
“I want a European-type feel,” she says. “I want people to be able to come to buy their bread and eggs and their meat and know when they walk in my door at Parkview Field, that … this has all been verified.”
Food truck rally
Foodstock 2012 just might mark Fort Wayne’s first-ever food truck rally, says Jeff Parrot, coordinator and owner of The Shiloh.
The event will feature seven to 10 food truck vendors with different cuisine, including these local trucks: Big John’s Ragin’ Cajun Food truck, which serves Cajun and Creole cuisine; JumBy’s JoiNt, whose menu includes grilled cheese, sausage and pulled pork; and The Getaway Grill, whose Facebook page lists 17 food styles, including breakfast, Latin American and seafood.
Each truck will have a sampler menu, or people can order their favorite menu items.
Foodstock will be from 6 to 11 p.m. Oct. 12 at The Shiloh (3127 Carroll Road).
Fundraisers
•The Black Pine Animal Sanctuary (1426 W. 300 North, Albion) is holding its sixth annual Lions, Tigers and Beer, Black Pine! event from 6 to 9 p.m. Saturday. The money raised will help with the costs of animal care through the winter.
The event gives people the chance to tour the sanctuary, meet animal keepers, munch on barbecue and sample beer.
Tickets are $25 at the door, or $20 if you register before Saturday. Buy tickets at BlackPine.org or call 260-636-7383.
•October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and each Monday this month, Quaker Steak & Lube (407 Coliseum Blvd. W.) is teaming up with the Vera Bradley Foundation for Breast Cancer. Guests who wear pink to the restaurant will have a portion of their bill donated to the foundation.
Opening
Tran Restaurant (2310 S. Calhoun St.) has its grand opening Saturday. Based on the restaurant’s sign, it serves deli sandwiches.
New website
Today marks DeBrand Fine Chocolates’ 25th anniversary, and as part of the celebration, the local company recently revamped its website, DeBrand.com.
The new link, “Chocolate Guide,” tells shoppers the details of each truffle and bite. Online browsers can now put together pick-your-piece collections, where they are able to choose each piece of candy, as though they were in the shop.
