The Renaissance Project and the American Friends Service Committee have partnered locally to coordinate the monthly Fresh Market at Hunter’s Field. We convened the Upper Ninth Ward Farmers Market on St. Claude Ave. for three years and will now sponsor our first Fresh Market at Hunter’s Field from 11am – 3pm on Easter Saturday, April 3, 2010 at the corner of St. Bernard and Claiborne Ave.

This will be the first of planned monthly markets at this site. Markets are scheduled as follows:

The Easter Saturday market will feature bell peppers, onions, potatoes and fresh seafood. In addition, vendors will be on hand selling Easter holiday trimmings. Sweet Lorraine’s will sell fried fish and soft shell crab plates. Healthcare professionals and community-based organizations with share information with the public. At 12 noon there will be an Easter egg hunt for the children and Students at the Center will interview seniors in a Story Circle at 1pm.

This market is made possible with the support of Treme Center, Sweet Lorraine’s, NewCorp Business Assistance Center, Second Harvest Food Bank, Students at the Center, Positive Living Treatment Center and the 7th Ward Neighborhood Center.

Greetings Friends,

Stop by tomorrow, on the 4th anniversary of you know what, to buy fresh catfish, drum and shrimp from Warren Delacroix; fresh and pickled okra, tomatoes, cucumbers and cantaloupes from Backwoods Farm; handmade strawberry lemonade, kettlecorn and pork skins from Don and Deneen Harding; and portabella mushroom sandwiches, beef tamales, banana nut bread and hot pepper jelly from Sally Cobb.

Join 60 volunteers at 9AM in gardening and beautification projects around Douglass High and in front of the Alvar Street Public Library.

Creative Forces performs at 1:30PM in the auditorium. See attached press release.

I remember stopping for the St. Claude bridge and a train at Press St. too, sometimes twice the same day but no less than five times a week, ‘catching’ one or the other, on my way to work downtown. Everyone sat at a standstill, inconvenienced, for blocks in both directions as a tugboat and a couple of barges slowly coasted through the locks or an engine chugged forward half a block then back, over and over again, to the sound of levers, iron and steel, unhitching railcars.

This morning under the comforting breeze and quiet whir of our ceiling fan, I consider the plight and perspective of the bridge operator and railroad conductor as we stop traffic and bring our work to a screeching halt for the purpose of getting on track and directing the course of our projects.

We will close the Upper 9th Ward Farmers market during the month of September to do housecleaning, repair and renovations. We reopen on October 3rd and celebrate our three-year anniversary in November. As we make progress please accept our sincere apologies for the pain and inconvenience.

Now driving down St. Claude from a different direction, the train and bridge still stop us, though less frequently. In my mother’s voice, my two-year old granddaughter laughs as my “toot, toot, toot” mimics the signal for the operator to lower the bridge.

Take good care,

Greta

1-4pm  – Upper Ninth Ward Farmers Market
Frederick Douglass High School, 3820 St. Claude Avenue corner Pauline Street