Our market is looking for committed volunteers for the 2016 season. This year the season will likely run from June 10 to September 30 (exact dates are still being finalized).
Specifically, we need people who are willing to help in the following areas:
- Recruiting vendors before and during the market season
- Liaising regularly with vendors throughout the season to ensure their needs are being met
- Setting up and breaking down the market each Friday (takes place before 3pm and after 7pm)
- Staffing the market booth to answer customer inquiries and swipe credit/debit/EBT cards in exchange for tokens
- Organizing the annual school poster contest
- Creating and distributing promotional materials (e.g., posters, flyers)
- Maintaining the market’s social media (e.g., blog and Facebook)
- Scheduling activities and musicians each week
- Establishing partnerships with likeminded area nonprofits
- Coordinating the market’s participation in FMNP and the WSFMA
- Collecting vendor tokens, entering weekly tallies and requesting payment
You don’t necessarily need expertise in any of these areas! Our existing volunteers are happy to provide one-on-one mentoring.
We’re also open to working with organizations that are looking for internship placement opportunities. The market offers on-the-job experience in PR, marketing, entrepreneurship, management, budgeting, and lots more. It’s the perfect learn-by-doing environment to train young adults in these valuable job skills. And because our market is concerned with outreach, food access and community-building, it has the potential to be much more fulfilling than ordinary internships.
If you’re interested in any of these opportunities, please send us an e-mail.
As the Emerson-Garfield Farmers’ Market is a grassroots, community-oriented initiative, your involvement—even if it’s one market per month or one hour per week—is essential to making it happen.