Despite the rain, our 2018 Farm 2 Fork Dinner was another big success.
On a rainy Sunday evening in September, 70+ folks gathered inside the Downtown Martinsburg Public Library for the second annual Farm 2 Fork Dinner – a locally-sourced and prepared 4-course dinner. Last year’s 50 seat dinner sold out so fast that we increased the number of tickets for 2018 and hoped that we’d successfully live up to last year’s unbelievably successful experience.
In its second year, this sold out dinner raised over $2,400 dollars to support local food initiatives!
This year the proceeds will be used to sustain the Martinsburg Farmers Market as well as start a Farm 2 School program. This program will be a partnership between last year’s dinner beneficiary – the Promise Garden – and the downtown Martinsburg schools.
Growing Community … and veggies!
Last year, our partners helped fund and install a high-tunnel garden in the Burke Street Promise Neighborhood’s community garden. The high-tunnel–as well as the rest of the garden–serve as a community gathering and collaboration space. With support from community partners, volunteers and proceeds from the dinner, the garden will not only become an outdoor classroom, but it will also be growing produce to be used in the local schools.
The Martinsburg Farmers Market that H+W and our partners organize has a slightly different mission than other markets. Education and Access play important roles in the vision for the market. The farm 2 fork dinner helps sustain our vision as we grow the market and access to local produce in our community.
Plenty of thanks to go around!
This event highlights what makes our community so great–cooperation and collaboration! Without support from the city of Martinsburg, the farmers, chefs, local businesses and especially our volunteers, we would not be able to host this amazing event.
We loved the size of this year’s event and plan to keep the dinner an intimate experience. Besides learning an anti-rain dance so we can dine outside on town square, we have a few ideas brewing for an even more special evening in 2019.
[text_group id=”1ab43817247789a0936bae383e265c86″ content=”‹¨›h3‹˜›Thanks Sponsors!‹¨›/h3‹˜›‹¨›p‹˜›Augmentation Inc.‹¨›br /‹˜›Bowles Rice‹¨›br /‹˜›Development Authority of Berkeley County‹¨›br /‹˜›Flowers Unlimited‹¨›br /‹˜›Kay Lewis State Farm‹¨›br /‹˜›Orsini’s Appliances‹¨›br /‹˜›WVU Berkeley Medical Center‹¨›/p‹˜›‹¨›p‹˜›‹¯›nbsp;‹¨›/p‹˜›” content_two=”‹¨›h3‹˜›Thanks Partners!‹¨›/h3‹˜›‹¨›p‹˜›Burke Street Promise Neighborhood Initiative‹¨›br /‹˜›Downtown Martinsburg Public Library‹¨›br /‹˜›Healthy Berkeley‹¨›br /‹˜›Mainstreet Martinsburg‹¨›br /‹˜›WV FresHealthy Bucks‹¨›/p‹˜›” layout=”layout1″ paragraph_whitespace=”false” text_font=”body” heading_font=”heading” heading_font_weight=”700″ __fw_editor_shortcodes_id=”347a8fa825441163ce66ee3d027838ad” _fw_coder=”aggressive”][/text_group][text_group id=”1ab43817247789a0936bae383e265c86″ content=”‹¨›h3‹˜›Thanks Local Farmers + Market Vendors!‹¨›/h3‹˜›‹¨›p‹˜›The Bliss Lodge‹¨›br /‹˜›Butlers Farm Market‹¨›br /‹˜›Crestview Meat Market‹¨›br /‹˜›Mama‹³›s Best Food‹¨›br /‹˜›Mountaineer Popcorn‹¨›br /‹˜›Oma‹³›s Homestead‹¨›br /‹˜›Orr’s Farm Market‹¨›br /‹˜›The Promise Garden‹¨›br /‹˜›Sister Sue’s Jams and Jellies‹¨›br /‹˜›Steel House Farm‹¨›br /‹˜›Strawberry Hill Farm‹¨›/p‹˜›” content_two=”‹¨›h3‹˜›Thanks Restaurants!‹¨›/h3‹˜›‹¨›p‹˜›The Bliss Lodge‹¨›br /‹˜›Boyd’s Steakhouse‹¨›br /‹˜›Brix 27‹¨›br /‹˜›Historic Mcfarland House‹¨›br /‹˜›‹¨›em‹˜›(and chef Sarah who helped organize this year’s menu)‹¨›br /‹˜›‹¨›/em‹˜›James Rumsey Culinary Academy‹¨›br /‹˜›Mama‹³›s Best Food‹¨›br /‹˜›Mugs ‹¯›amp; Muffins‹¨›/p‹˜›” layout=”layout1″ paragraph_whitespace=”false” text_font=”body” heading_font=”heading” heading_font_weight=”700″ __fw_editor_shortcodes_id=”4599cc66068037a19fb6f7e74e322d82″ _fw_coder=”aggressive”][/text_group]
