A Sweet-16 celebration will hit the downtown plaza today, but this one will have more vegetables than cake.
The Union Street Farmers Market will celebrate its 16th anniversary from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. today at the Bo Diddley Community Plaza, 111 E University Ave.
Established in 1996, Union Street Farmers Market started out with about eight farmers who met once a week at Sun Central Plaza to sell goods.
Charlie Lybrand, director of Union Street Farmers Market, said the market now has about 55 vendors a week.
The celebration will have a cooking demonstration by Stefanie Samara Hamblen, owner of Hogtown HomeGrown and The Illegal Jam Company.
Hamblen’s will offer tips on how to eat more vegetables, and she will give out free samples of sweet potato curry, BBQ tofu with onions and smoky Southern field peas.
Hamblen said she has been shopping at Union Street Farmers Market for about 12 years.
Lybrand said they wanted the market to be more expressive of the community.
“We have so much talent in this community,” he said. “We’re a reflection of something really unique.”
