More than twenty food and product vendors and community partners set up in the parking lot of the Ruskin Heights Shopping Center today for the inaugural Three Trails Farmers Market.
The community group Hickman Mills United Neighborhoods organized the market to provide neighbors with access to locally grown, healthy produce and homemade products along with a vibrant community gathering space. The market is funded through a $25,000 grant from the KCMO Health Department and Community Capital Fund.
Kameica Hart volunteered at the market. She grew up in Hickman Mills, graduated from Ruskin High School and now owns a home in the area.
“We are all out here to make our neighborhood better,” said Hart. “We want to connect neighbors to resources and good food, to create pleasant places in the neighborhood for people to go. To make Hickman Mills a nice place to live.”
The market featured activities for kids, a food truck, DJ and a raffle prize every twenty minutes: a whole watermelon and $10 market voucher to spend on site. (Hickman Mills United Neighborhoods reimbursed vendors for the amount.)
Simply Yum Yum offered fresh okra and eggs from their six-acres in Topeka. Owners Liesa and Tim Manges drove in specially for the event. They also sold baked goods like cookies and butter rolls, pickled vegetables and lots of homemade jams–including banana jam (great on pancakes) and peach cobbler butter. The Manges bake for weddings and other special events, and tried the Hickman Mills market as a fun way to expand.
Among the vendors was James Attaway of Bread Simplified. He and his wife Julie run the cottage sourdough bakery from their south-Kansas City home. She handles the dough, he bakes it off in the oven.
Attaway offered samples along with an explanation of why sourdough surpasses modern store-bought bread: Commercial yeast is only about 150 years old. Humans have been eating fermented bread for much longer. “Sourdough is better nutritionally, and it tastes much better.”
This was a one-off event for 2024, but the Three Trails Market will resume in March 2025 on a monthly basis.
Aside from Simply Yum Yum, there were no local farmers with fresh produce. Event coordinators explained that this group was hard to reach, having already committed to other events. Brandon Wright, co-chair of Hickman Mills United Neighborhoods, said this will be a key for next year, along with getting more people to come out and support the market.
Wright said the kickoff event is a way to test the waters and see what works and what people want for next year.
Vendors also sold homemade body perfumes, homemade lip gloss and apparel. Artists gave henna tattoos and drew caricatures. Representatives were present from Kansas City Police Department, Ruskin Heights Homes Association and Oak St. Health.
Learn more about the Three Trails Farmers Market at www.hmunited.org.