Eat Local Month 2024
Celebrate the abundance of fresh produce, grass-fed meats, culinary mastery, and artisanal beverages with Local First throughout the month of August! This year’s Eat Local Month will feature “spotlight specials” highlighting local restaurants supporting the region’s agricultural producers and will conclude with the beloved fall feast, the 8th annual Harvest Dinner.
Who: Locally owned independent restaurants, grocers, farmers markets, and local food non-profits.
What: Annual campaign to spotlight locally produced food through events, menus, and deals.
Where: La Plata County and the 4 surrounding counties. Ingredients are considered “local” if sourced within a 100-mile radius.
Why: To create deeper connections with people and their food system, to support local farmers, and to better our community.
GET INVOLVED
Meet the Farmers
Visit your local farmers markets and farms:
Bayfield Farmers Market, Saturday 8-12 and Tuesday 4-7, 1328 CR 501
Durango Farmers Market, Saturdays 8-12, 259 W 9th St.
Píinu Núuchi Farmers Market, Fridays 11-6, 15150 Hwy 172 Ignacio (through Sept. 27th)
Check out SouthwestProducers.org to find local farms and where you can buy their products!
Meet Us
Join us for our annual Harvest Dinner to dine with local farmers, chefs, the Local First board and staff, and your neighbors.
The Good Food Collective
A first-time-ever collaboration of local non-profits was chosen to receive $355,843 from the USDA through the Local Food Promotion Program of the Agricultural Marketing Service. The funds will support the launch of the “Durango Regional Food Recovery Hub (HUB). Only 14-percent of proposals reviewed were funded through the competitive process.
The purpose of the HUB is to increase access to locally-produced agricultural products, develop new market opportunities for farm and ranch operations serving local markets, and increase regional food security. Through efficient harvesting and distribution of gleaned fruit and vegetables, the Hub will increase access to local food for low-income families and entrepreneurial businesses, while also reducing conflicts with bears. The geographic scope of the grant is Durango, Colorado, and La Plata and Montezuma counties. Grant funds will pay for a full-time coordinator, equipment rental for local food distribution such as a refrigerated trailer and food storage system, community engagement and information tools, and use of the 9-R School Aggregation Center as a distribution facility.
The grant builds on past years of fruit and vegetable gleaning work by the Environmental Center at Fort Lewis College, Bear Smart Durango, Colorado State University – Extension, the Garden Project of Southwest Colorado, and Healthy Community Food Systems. New partners include Local First, Durango 9-R School District, Cooking Matters, and the American Independent Business Alliance (AMIBA) based in Bozeman, Mont., who is the fiscal sponsor for the grant.
