This weekend is the last Power of Produce booth of 2023. This program offers free kids’ activities at our market every week, while teaching community children to value and support their local food system. Each activity is focused on fruits and vegetables, plant life cycles, the changing of the seasons, the environment, or enjoying the produce our region has to offer. We not only encourage kids to think about where their food comes from, but we also provide each child with $4/week in “POP Bucks,” which they can spend in our farmers’ market. Today we’ll look back on some our favorite POP memories from 2023.

This year we decided to add a “time capsule” element to the back of our POP passports, so families could remember this moment in time with their children: their likes, dislikes, their farmers market favorites, and a space to draw a self-portrait. Some kids loved it! Some kids… did not, like the little girl below. Either way, it’s real, it’s genuine, and everybody knows that sometimes it really is just a no good, terrible day (even at the farmers’ market).

This spring we ran an activity called “Yuck and Yum,” in which kids walked the market and drew foods that elicited instinctive, impulsive reactions in them. We all know how that goes! Kids take one look and decide how they feel about a food, before they even try it. In this activity we encouraged kids to acknowledge that reaction. They then talked to a farmer or parent about that feeling. The goal of this exercise was to broaden children’s minds, and maybe make them more open to trying new foods. (We did have to circle the market before open and warn the vendors there may be children pointing at their products and loudly yelling, “yuck!”) Families reported great conversations and we were proud to see many activity sheets come back with zero “yucks.” True farmers market kids right there!

As spring turned to summer, we came up with an activity that involved giant chalk drawings of spring and summer produce. A homemade spinner was used to determine if the participants needed to stand on a spring or a summer fruit, and then the kids would run from one chalk drawing to another. Our fabulous volunteers drew gorgeous strawberries, cherries, peas, peaches, blueberries, and corn. We scheduled this activity for the last week of school and called it “Spring into Summer” because it was time to celebrate the start of summer! Then, of course, it rained. The intricate chalk drawings were all washed away by midday. What a perfect start to PNW summertime!

This summer we decided to talk about buoyancy when it comes to the food we eat. We filled a large clear bin with water, and we asked kids to guess whether an assorted collection of vegetables would sink or float. After they made their guesses, kids got to dunk the produce and see the results firsthand. This activity was incredibly popular, and not only with kids! Many child-free adults stopped by the POP booth, after observing the game from afar. Sheepishly they’d ask, “I think I know which ones will float… can I just check if I’m right?” We always said yes.
 
In the fall we held our annual Vendor Appreciation Day. At the POP booth we invited kids and parents to draw a picture or write a note for their favorites at Hillsdale Farmers’ Market. They then took those missives to add to a poster board every vendor had in front of their stall. Kids were immediately thrilled to have the opportunity to shower love on their favorite makers, growers, ranchers, and foragers. Some children kept coming back to the POP booth all day, drawing designs for their farmers’ market friends. As managers, we have noticed that many of those poster boards have been kept by the vendors. A few made it into the farm trucks, proudly displayed where the vendors see them regularly as they load and unload. It makes our hearts swell!

This Sunday will be our last POP booth for the season. Even though kids will no longer be able to earn POP Bucks after Sunday, they are all still good as currency until 12/31/23 – so make sure you come back to the market and use up whatever ones you have at home! This week’s activities will all be in celebration of Halloween, and we will even have a separate booth for an all-ages costume contest. Come on out to say goodbye to the POP Booth! We’ll be back with more fun, games, and educational content in April 2024.

If your children have attended the POP Booth over twelve times this summer, this Sunday is your last chance to collect your VIP Prize.