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Farmers market set for launch in Flanders

Today marks the beginning of a new farmers market in Flanders, which Southampton Town officials say will be held there once a week until the end of October.

The Farm Fresh Food Market will run from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the parking lot of the David W. Crohan Community Center on Flanders Road from Saturday, July 16, through Oct. 29.

Southampton Councilwoman Bridget Fleming, who initiated the program, described it briefly at a recent meeting of the Flanders, Riverside and Northampton Community Association.

“We’re committed to bringing in a grocery store to this neighborhood, and I’m hopeful on a couple of fronts, but as you know, it’s not happening tomorrow,” she said. “However, we have some of the richest agricultural soil in New York State and on the East Coast here in Southampton Town, and it seems crazy to me that in Flanders and Riverside and Northampton, we don’t have access to fresh produce like they do at farm stands in Westhampton and Sag Harbor and Sagaponack.”

There is a summertime farmers market in downtown Riverhead on Thursdays starting at 11 a.m.

Ms. Fleming said the Flanders farmers market is a pilot program and will be run by six local teenagers who have received training in food handling and running a business. The market will sell fresh produce delivered by nine farms located in Southampton Town.

The program is modeled after farmers markets in North Bellport and Roosevelt.

In addition to the town, the farmers market is sponsored by the town’s housing authority, Cornell Cooperative Extension, Bridgehampton National Bank and Maran Corporate Risk.

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