Celebrate Local Flavor at Fairfield’s First Fridays ArtWalk on Sept. 5

On Friday, Sept. 5, Fairfield’s First Fridays ArtWalk is teaming up with the Resilient Action Committee to bring you a vibrant celebration of local food, flavor, and community — all centered around the Square!

This special edition of ArtWalk will shine a spotlight on Southeast Iowa’s rich agricultural roots. Local restaurants, and ArtWalk vendors will be serving up dishes made with ingredients grown and produced right here in our region. It’s a true "farm-to-table" experience — so come hungry, pick up your map of participating food establishments at the Boosting Local Foods Booth and enjoy your evening meal Downtown to kick off the night!

What to expect:

In addition to regular ArtWalk vendors, You will experience a Mini-Farmers Market featuring some of our treasured Market Vendors. A visit to the Boosting Local Foods Booth also brings the opportunity to play Local Food Bingo for fabulous prizes, extra points if you’re wearing overalls! You’ll be able to swap vegetable jokes, seasonal recipes and gardening advice. Snap and share photos at the Selfie Station. Get your VIP Sticker (Can you guess what VIP stands for?) Maybe even see a local personality or two in vegetable costumes!!!

Live music by one of Fairfield’s favorite bands, Adam and the Jimbob Cats, in the Gazebo, starts at 6:00.

Thinking about refreshing your commitment to shopping local? Now is the time. It’s not just about being a good person. It’s about getting more — more flavor, more connection, more joy from the things you already buy. Buying local food is the easiest way to make a difference without trying that hard. Spend $20 at a local market and it circles back to your schools, parks and quality of life. By keeping your money where your life is you get a better town, better services, better connections.

At a time when rural culture often gets erased or overlooked, local food helps people preserve identity with pride. By shopping locally you become a part of something instead of just being a consumer. Make it a habit.

When you know where your food comes from, you trust it — and the people behind it. And that trust seeps into other parts of community life. That’s how rural communities stay strong even in tough times. Local food doesn’t just feed us. It can keep our whole town going.

We all know that Iowa has the soil, the rainfall and the growing season to produce amazing crops. Can we envision a future together where we use our incredible resources to grow food for all of SE Iowa? We’ve got good land and good people. Might as well eat like it.

This enjoyable event commences at 6 p.m., Friday, Sept. 5 and is cosponsored by: Bomgaar’s, Everybody’s Whole Foods, Fairfield Farmers Market, Fairfield First Friday’s, Sustainable Living Coalition

Giveaways by: Bomgaar’s, Deanna’s Garden, Diana Watt Cards, Newton’s Own, Sew Awesome, The Bakehouse

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