By declaration of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, this week of August 1st - 7th, has been designated as National Farmers Market Week to “further awareness of farmers markets’ essential contributions to American life." We all know that farmers markets have a certain transformative magic - as most pop up briefly every week to create a vibrant gathering spot around the freshest foods and bring together farmers, ranchers, artisan vendors, and patrons. In Uptown, a sleepy Saturday morning parking lot comes alive for a few hours with tables full of colorful fruits and vegetables, beautiful baked goods, artisan foods, freshly roasted coffee, handcrafted teas, gourmet breakfast sandwiches from the food truck, fresh farm eggs and meats, gorgeous flowers…. The sound of community is created against the backdrop of music, bicycles, conversation, and shoppers. Yes, we agree that farmers markets are essential to American life! We look forward to seeing you on Saturday!
To help celebrate National Farmers Market Week, we are doing one of our popular basket giveaways full of a variety of market products. Just register for free at the Welcome Tent, and we’ll draw a winner at 10:30am. You don’t have to be present to win, we’ll call you.
Please continue to socially distance at vendor tents and take advantage of the market’s three hand-washing stations. We’ll have plentiful sanitizers at all the vendor tents. Since mask recommendations are back for indoor places, we can all appreciate the opportunity to shop for the freshest produce, meats, and artisan foods at an outdoor farmers market where we can enjoy these cooler temps. We will keep a close watch on CDC protocols for outdoor gatherings, but please wear a mask if you feel more comfortable. We’ll continue to work together to get past this pandemic and keep one another safe.
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Cooking Demo
 Join us at 9:00am with Chef Sharon Scarborough, owner of Divine Taste Cooking, another of our talented vendors, who will prepare Asian Style Cauliflower Fried Rice Fakeout.
From Charlotte Culinary Expert, Heidi Billotto
This week’s recipe is a fun one for family breakfast. It’s easy for the kiddos to lend a helping hand, cutting circles out of the bread and cracking eggs, while Mom or Dad work the stove.
It’s a classic recipe we used to call “Toad In The Hole” ; one, I feel sure, many of you learned to make when you were kids yourselves, just as I did.
The classic English version of Toad in the Hole, includes sausage and is made with brioche instead of sliced bread; but today, for the last days of summer family fun, we are keeping it easy. The ingredients are simple: eggs, bread and butter.
Keep it local to the Charlotte Uptown Farmers Market with farm eggs from your favorite vendor and your bread of choice from Verdant Bakery. Serve a slice or two of fresh tomato or broiled or grilled tomato on the side; and of course, if you’d like to add sausage or bacon to the plate, by all means, go right ahead – You’ll find both from farmers at the market who carry pork, chicken and beef.
Cheers, Heidi
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Recipes of the Week
TOAD IN THE HOLE
A FARMERS MARKET BREAKFAST
by Heidi Billotto, Charlotte Culinary Expert
Click here to try this great recipe!
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We so appreciate Communities in Concert providing local musicians for the Market each week. Through a partnership with Music Everywhere Charlotte, Communities in Concert was established to combat the effects of COVID-19 in the Musical and Creative Arts Community. In collaboration with the City of Charlotte and Charlotte Center City Partners, the vision is to financially assist the city’s creative community and build collaborative and supportive relationships. 
We are excited to welcome new volunteers each week! The market couldn’t take place without many hands. We have a special need for early set-up help (6:30am - 8:00am) as we’ve added more items to the market. You can be one of the first to grab your Enderly coffee! During market hours, whether you can help out for two hours in a variety of tasks, or even just assist for an hour with take-down (12:30pm - 1:30pm), we’ve got a fun spot for you to volunteer. We’ve added additional roles during the market at the cooking demo and children’s activity tent. Some volunteers help once a month or every week - whatever works with your schedule. Many tell us it’s the highlight of their week, so come give it a try! You can fill out a contact form 
Your generous donations to 
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Meat / Poultry / Fish
Artisan Foods / Bakeries / Other
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