ASHLAND – For seven years, Local Roots Market has been cultivating community in Ashland.
To manager Veronika deSalgado and the Local Roots volunteers and members, the cooperative marketplace is more than just a store.
It’s a place to connect consumers and producers in ways that benefit both.
“Membership dues help pay for things like rent and utilities. Local Roots takes a small commission, but most of the money goes back to the farmers,” deSalgado said. “So people get clean, locally grown food with accountability and farmers get the most for their product.”
To mark the seventh anniversary of the market coming to Ashland, Local Roots is inviting the community to stop by for a birthday celebration noon to 4 p.m. Saturday, March 30.
The public can enjoy cake and ice cream as well as samples of cider, dip mixes made with local sour cream, chicken patties, pierogi, caramel corn, cookies and bread. Free range, vegetarian-fed eggs will be on sale for $1.25 per dozen during the celebration. Customers who bring their own reusable or used disposable egg container can receive five cents off a dozen eggs.
Many of the producers will be on hand to greet visitors and answer questions about their products.
“The birthday celebration is just our way of saying, come have some cake and see how we’ve grown and get to know us,” deSalgado said. “You’re going to love us.”
Local Roots member and volunteer Marlene Barkheimer said events like Saturday’s are vital because they bring people together.
“What I have found is people like to know the source of their food,” she said. “Getting the growers to come in and actually meet the shoppers really helps tie people into what we’re all about. I think that’s usually the high point of the day for anything that we’re doing.”
Barkheimer has been active with Local Roots for years and helped bring the Ashland location to fruition.
“I was interested in having this available for people like me who don’t make it to farmers markets on Saturday mornings but still like to eat local foods. The idea of what Local Roots Could do, to me, was a great concept.”
Two years after the original Local Roots Market and Cafe launched in Wooster, a group of local producers opened the Ashland location in the old Gilbert’s Furniture warehouse, where Substance Church is now located. After about a year there, the market moved to the former Appleseed Orchard location on Ohio 60. Local Roots has been in its current location at 1221 Cleveland Avenue for about four years.
The only paid employee in the store, deSalgado makes labels and signage, arranges displays and coordinates with producers and with the volunteers who do much of the work at the market.
In addition to Barkheimer, some of the most active volunteers are Dave Benchoff, Nacy Wasen, Kevin Cannon and Karisa Wild.
Local Roots keeps 18 percent of the sale price for perishable items and 25 percent for shelf-stable items. The remainder goes directly to the approximately 150 producers whose products fill the market shelves and refrigerator cases.
The store carries meat and poultry, dairy products, fruits and vegetables, breads, herbs and superfoods as well as various food products for people with certain food allergies, intolerances or preferences.
“People are really looking to eat more healthy and to be aware of where their food comes from. They’re finding out what you put in your body really does make a difference in how you feel,” deSalgado said. “There’s a big movement of people who have special dietary needs and people who can’t eat gluten or are vegan or want to only eat grass-fed, pastured poultry and meats and we can provide that for them.”
If people have questions about how food was grown, harvested, raised, butchered or processed, deSalgado can usually answer them.
“If I don’t have the answer, it’s only a phone call or a text away,” deSalgado said, thanks to the store’s relationships with its producers.
In addition to food, Local Roots carries a range of art, crafts and healthier or more environmentally-friendly household products like non-toxic cleaners, dryer balls and stainless steel straws.
A majority of the products in the store are local, though the market does carry some products, like coconut oil, that cannot be made in Ohio. Even those products are carefully chosen to fit the Local Roots mission of thinking globally while acting locally.
“We try to research and find sources that promote their own local economies,” deSalgado said.
Local Roots has discussion groups that meet regularly as well as one-time classes in things like seed starting, container gardening and composting.
For gardeners, organic plant starts will soon be available for purchase.
Though members help sustain the store and receive benefits like discounts, customers do not need to become members to shop in the market. Annual memberships cost $50, or members may pay for their membership by volunteering 10 hours of their time.
The market’s current hours are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays, but hours change seasonally.
For more information about Local Roots or its events, find the market on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram or look for the market’s new hashtag, #wethecarrot.
