Winterville’s Marigold Collective is a nonprofit dedicated to connecting the community with fresh, locally grown food and promoting food sovereignty through markets, educational and nutritional programming, a farmer co-op and shared kitchen. The collective is hosting its first fundraiser, Marigold Mingle, featuring music and locally sourced concessions on Saturday, Apr. 19 at the Marigold Auditorium in benefit of continuing and expanding its programs.
Featuring an evening of music by Cicada Rhythm, Wet Meadows and the Athens Cowboy Choir, attendees can enjoy farm-to-fork fare like bratwurst from Nature’s Harvest Meat Company, as well as a multimedia stage setting. There’s a VIP package that includes priority seating for the concert, a reception with light refreshments and a behind-the-scenes tour of the Winterville Cultural Center Galleries and Marigold Auditorium led by Mayor Dodd Ferrelle and his wife, artist Cameron Bliss.
The Marigold Collective began as a community market in 2019 and was able to continue as such through COVID grants and operating under the city government. Last year the collective officially obtained nonprofit status, and its programming expanded to include nutritional and educational outreach. The fundraiser will benefit the continuation and further development of these programs.
Last year the Marigold Collective worked with Winterville Elementary School through a grant from Wholesome Wave Georgia to organize a set of four in-classroom field trips to bring in demonstrations connected to the state curriculum. One farmer brought in a beehive, and another brought in native fruits like pawpaws and muscadines.
“We brought it back to what was already going on in the classroom, so it was designed to supplement classroom lessons. The kids already have awesome teachers at their school, but having all of these things that they can taste and touch and smell to go along with everything else that they’re doing kind of gives this really cool experiential facet to what they’re doing,” says Katrina Ohstrom, the Marigold Collective’s communications and marketing director.
The demonstrations included a Marigold Mini Market at the school where students were given tokens to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables, in addition to tokens they were given to take back to their families to spend at the regular market. Currently the program serves first graders, but the goal is to fund programs for second graders, then third graders and beyond. Then the lessons and demonstrations would be able to consistently follow and grow with students.
A new program being implemented this year partners with Piedmont and St. Mary’s hospitals. The Marigold Collective is creating packages with locally grown food to be given away to lifestyle coach patients, who will be given guidance on the best way to prepare this fresh food. The organization has also spent the past year establishing a farmer co-op that allows farmers to take turns working the market and increase the variety of produce offered and available for these programs.
“The kind of work that we do broadly is for food justice and food sovereignty, and that includes both giving the food directly to people in nutrition distribution or doing educational programs in elementary schools. But we’re also building markets so that farmers can have more channels to move their produce through,” says Ohstrom.
Food sovereignty is defined as the right to healthy and culturally appropriate food that is produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and people’s right to define their own food and agriculture systems. Most of the collective’s farmers are using organic practices, and the co-op helps ensure agricultural land is staying in production. The collective also has a budget to purchase unsold produce at the end of each market to put back into distribution or make into soup that is given away. It has received grants for zero waste initiatives, and it also has a worm composting facility.
“We’re trying to move beyond that and have our farmers working together to grow food that’s really desired by our community. So it’s not just about reducing waste, it’s about growing the things that are the most desired, not just figuring out what to do with stuff that didn’t sell,” says Ohstrom.
Looking toward the near future, the Marigold Collective is renovating an old blacksmith shop in Winterville to open a grocery store. Currently it hosts an online grocery store with pickups on Mondays for Georgia-made products like flour, snacks, fruits and vegetables. The physical store will be located along the Firefly Trail to improve access for the community.
WHO: Marigold Mingle
WHEN: Saturday, Apr. 19, 6 p.m. (doors)
WHERE: Marigold Auditorium
HOW MUCH: $25 (adv.), $30
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