You are reading

Greenmarket Operated by Youth to Open This Weekend in Long Island City

A prior Youthmarket in Long Island City

July 6, 2018 By Nathaly Pesantez

A fresh produce marketplace run by neighborhood youth will be opening this weekend in Long Island City.

The Long Island City Youthmarket, as the project is called, will launch on July 7 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Center Boulevard and 46th Road, and will run every Saturday until November 17.

The market, organized by GrowNYC, will sell fruits and vegetables purchased from a network of local farmers.

The program is a chance for the community to have better access to fresh food, and help the youth participants gain small-business skills and learn about nutrition and agriculture.

Three youth will work at the Long Island City market each week, and will be paid $13 per hour, according to Catherine Crawford, a spokesperson for GrowNYC.

The participants, she said, were selected from a local community partner, and have worked at other Youthmarket farm stands in the past.

“They are great ambassadors for the inaugural season at Long Island City,” Crawford said.

The greenmarket program is not new to the area, with a prior market operating on 48th Avenue and Vernon Boulevard for years before until it closed in 2010 due to low foot traffic. GrowNYC then switched gears and opened a Youthmarket at the site a few years later, but also struggled with keeping it afloat for the same problem.

“Establishing farmers markets and farm stands is a lot like any other business—location, location, location,” Crawford said. “We’re excited to be programming this new Youthmarket close to a public park where there is high population density.”

email the author: news@queenspost.com

One Comment

Click for Comments 
CenterBlvd_Girl

This is awesome! Do you know if the market is cash-only or will accept credit card?

73
Reply

Leave a Comment
Reply to this Comment

All comments are subject to moderation before being posted.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Recent News

Burglary crew sought for targeting drugstores in five different Queens precincts: NYPD

Police from five Queens precincts are looking for a pair of burglars who targeted independent mom-and-pop drugstores from Fresh Meadows to Astoria throughout December.

The two men allegedly broke into three drugstores in three different neighborhoods in a half-hour during the morning of Sunday, Dec. 15. While one stood guard outside a drugstore at 63-09 39th Avenue in Woodside, his partner broke through the glass front door at 5:50 a.m. Police from the 108th Precinct reported that he removed $400 in cash before leaving.