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Fay-Penn collecting information for buying local feasibility study

By Lori Ann Scott for The 3 min read

With two successful weeks of farmers markets under our belts, and the Fayette County Fair coming up this week, we are just moving right along with summer.

We’ll be set up again at the fair this year in Commercial Building 3 with some giveaways and local food surveys to hand out. Fay-Penn’s local economy department is trying to gather information about local food purchasing and consumption habits for a feasibility study that will be done in the near future. We want to see how well a local food co-op/market would do in downtown Uniontown. And, of course, I would love to hear your thoughts and opinions as well. You can always contact me at loris@faypenn.org or 724-437-7913. But, if you’re out at the fair, make sure you stop by and see us.

Also, Aug. 1 will be Buy Local Day again at the fair. We’ll be set up by the main entrance again We had a great time last year talking with everyone, and it was so nice to see and hear how many people support what we are doing with our farmers markets and the Buy Local program.

Remember, it’s all about sustaining our local economy, and we must do that through supporting our locally-owned businesses. And while me must also support the chain establishments in our area because they do provide jobs to local residents, more of the money spent at locally-owned businesses stays in or communities.

Don’t forget, you can also take part in the annual 4-H livestock auction that takes place the evening of Aug. 1 at the fairgrounds. It’s a great way to give back to these great kids and young adults that are putting in a lot of time and effort into raising their animals.

And I love the fact that many businesses, including restaurants end up purchasing these animals and then have them butchered to be sold at their restaurants. Many times, our locally owned restaurants are serving locally grown and raised animals. And, there is a difference in the taste of locally raised meat and chicken. It’s delicious and lean. If eating locally grown foods is important to you, make sure to ask the restaurant owner or chef if that is what they serve.

We are also in the process of conducting a short local food survey, which I mentioned earlier. We would love for you to help us gather data on your local food purchasing and consumption habits. You can also go online and fill out the survey at surveymonkey.com/s/L6WZWPS. This data will help our feasibility study to determine if a market in downtown Uniontown would be successful for our local economy in Fayette County and beneficial to the residents. I, for one, would love to see a market in downtown Uniontown that sells nothing but locally grown, raised and processed products.

Lori Scott is the Sustainable Communities Specialist for Fay-Penn Economic Development Council. She can be reached at loris@faypenn.org or 724-437-7913.

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