Our first Localvore Challenge was highly successful. Over 200 people registered for the event.

 

There were 3 different Challenge levels: to eat only local foods for the week of 29 July-4 Aug; a second for the entire month of August; and a third where people committed to eating at least one local food per meal.

 

We kicked off the Challenge with a free pancake breakfast at the West Village Meeting House on Sat July 29.  The menu included sourdough pancakes made with local flour, local butter, local yogurt, local blueberries and raspberries, locally grown mint tea, and of course locally produced maple syrup.  We served 75 happy hungry people that morning who shared their plans for keeping to a Localvore diet for the upcoming days or weeks.

 

We organized potluck dinners for every night of the week-long Challenge at different households, involving about 75 people. For many, this was the heart of the Challenge, creating a sense of community. 

 

We hosted a sidewalk tasting of local-ingredient appetizers at the monthly Gallery Walk in Brattleboro on  August 4th where we shared local food with the larger community.

 

Fifty starter kits of local products were sold (we could have sold many more!) at cost for $20. Each kit contained 12 local items and about 13 pounds of food

 

A number of local farms at the twice-weekly Farmers’ Market, plus the Riverside Café, gave 10% discounts to registered (card carrying) localvores during the Challenge.

 

A number of people joined local CSAs in order to meet the challenge; a few stated that the Challenge was the “tipping point” in consciously deciding to eat more local food.

 

Several farmers noted that they experienced increased sales during the week of the Challenge.

We are grateful to the growers and producers who made our diets possible.  Many of the items on the Pancake Breakfast menu were donated, as was the labor of many POS members who picked berries, prepared yogurt, dried mint for tea, made sourdough starter, and of course those who cooked and served the food!