HomeGrown Steering Committee 2009
- Shannon Brines (Chair)
- Jason Frenzel (Vice-Chair)
- Deirdra Stockmann (Secretary)
- Erica Kempter (Treasurer)
- Kim Bayer
- Rita Conrad
- Jeff McCabe
- Laura Meisler
- Karen Sikkenga
- Brad Wicklund
HomeGrown Advisory Committee 2009
- Ruth Blackburn, RD.
- Anya Dale, Associate Planner, Washtenaw County
- Jennifer Fike, Executive Director, Food System Economic Partnership (FSEP)
- Mike Garfield, Director, Ecology Center
- Ken and Cathy King, Farmers, Frog Holler Organic Farm
- Kevin Sharp, Communications Manager, People’s Food Co-op
- Grace Singleton, Managing Partner, Zingerman’s Deli
- Conan Smith, Washtenaw County Commissioner
About the HomeGrown Festival
The HomeGrown Festival seeks to engage the entire community of Southeast Michigan around issues of food security, enjoyment and environmental quality by celebrating good food and local business with family-oriented fun and activities. The mission of the HomeGrown Festival is to serve as a catalyst in raising awareness of the importance of food security and increasing the consumption and production of local and sustainably grown foods and products.
Many indicators point to industrialized food production and globalized distribution systems as significant contributors to the climate crisis and to widespread health problems. A direct way for people to take action in their daily lives to address these serious problems is through buying locally grown, sustainably produced food and products. Buying local food not only addresses environmental quality, but also increases food security and keeps dollars circulating in the local community by investing in the Michigan economy.
Event Background
Initial plans for the Festival grew out of a meeting of the Beyond Sustainability group connected with the Ecology Center. As a result of that discussion, a group of Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti area non-profits, businesses, educational organizations and individuals came together in March of 2007 to plan a festival celebrating local food, products, and businesses as a way to highlight the community benefits and fun of understanding and eating from our own foodshed.
The first annual HomeGrown Festival was held on Saturday, September 13, 2008. It was a rousing success, with nearly 2000 attendees, despite a steady downpour of much-needed rain.
The second annual HomeGrown Festival will be even bigger and better when it is held on Saturday, September 12, 2009 at the historic Ann Arbor Farmers’ Market from 5:00-10:00pm. In addition to delicious food grown in our part of the state and cooked by talented local chefs, we will also be opening, for the first time, the “Pioneer Wine Trail and Michigan Beer Tent” serving wonderful, locally made beverages. Listen to an hour-long preview of the HomeGrown Festival that aired on WCBN.
