FreshLocal Makes Its Debut – Open House November 6

The new downtown Bremerton food store, FreshLocal, will welcome the public for the first time at an Open House next Friday, November 6, from 3:00 to 8:00 PM at 540 Fourth Street.  This is the store owned by local food producer members, offering locally sourced vegetables and fruits, meats, eggs, dairy products, grains and honey, plus prepared foods made locally by members, smoked salmon and cheese, baked goods, soups, stews and salads, spice mixtures, herbal teas, and locally roasted fresh whole bean coffee.  In addition to these locally sourced foods, the store will carry a large selection of organic bulk commodities, enough to fill the gaps in local production and comprise a complete, high quality and nutritious diet. But, fresh and local are the real focus of the store; its reason for being.

 It took the magnet of a local market to draw the many individual providers and to reveal the richness and diversity, the wealth of local food production already around us.  It took the focus of a single storefront to let us fully realize that local food is already a strong presence in our community, and growing every day.  By spring, there may be many more entrepreneurs who recognize the demand for local food, experience their own capability to meet that demand, and join the producer ranks themselves.  They won’t have to build a factory to do it.  They can till the soil in their own yards.  They are most welcome to join our ranks.

 It’s tough times for business in Bremerton these days, but this new business is a home-grown stimulus package.  Most of the revenue generated by FreshLocal sales will go into the hands of local people, and they in turn will spend much of it locally.  Each dollar might contribute to several incomes before drifting elsewhere.  Thus this little store can have an important role in stabilizing the local economy. 

 Producer members will bring samples of their foods to the FreshLocal Open House, to give the public an idea of the variety and high quality they can expect to find in the store.  Some will represent dishes that shoppers might create with FreshLocal products, and others will be prepared foods, such as the sandwiches and salads which will be available for carryout lunches or suppers.  However, the members believe that the best part of the evening will be meeting each other, putting real human faces on both sides of the food exchange.

 Let’s get to know each other!  

(Thanks to Jean Schanen for the text of this entry)