By Sam Skopp
National Farmers Market week wrapped up Saturday with markets across the Westside taking the week to celebrate. Saturday, Aug. 12 saw the weekly Virginia Avenue Park farmers market in Santa Monica enjoying the occasion with stickers and temporary tattoos handed out to market goers to photograph for a national photo contest held by the Farmers Market Coalition.
Anyone who took a photo with one of the “I <3 Farmers Markets” stickers or temporary tattoos and tagged it with the appropriate hashtag was entered into a photo contest, with the winning photos being posted to the Farmers Market Coalition page and the photographer sent a prize.
Farmers Market Supervisor Laura Avery, who was subbing in on Saturday at the Virginia Avenue Park market, said that engagement with the contest was high.
“I was over by the band earlier and put stickers out,” Avery said. “A lot of parents are grabbing them for their kids and taking pictures.”
Those at the farmers market included everyone from regulars to a couple new to the neighborhood, who approached Avery asking about the other farmers markets in the area, explaining that Saturday’s Virginia Avenue Park market was their very first since moving to Santa Monica.
Part of the reasoning behind the photo contest was to encourage customers to participate in their own unique way.
“We want the customers to take initiative in posting their own photos and get creative with how they put the tattoo on,” said Avery, who had participated earlier in the day by photographing her granddaughter alongside Persian cucumbers.
Earlier in the week, the Arizona and 2nd Avenue farmers market included a photo booth and a board for anyone to leave a note explaining what they love about the local farmers markets.
For more information about the Virginia Avenue Park farmers market and the additional three in Santa Monica, visit smgov.net/portals/farmersmarket.
