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The Milwaukee County Winter Farmers Market has announced plans to join forces with local nonprofit, the Fondy Food Center.

Fondy, the mission of which is explicitly to connect neighborhoods to fresh, local food, runs the Fondy Farmers Market on Milwaukee’s North Side, the Fondy Farm in Port Washington, a pop-up market at Schlitz Park, and a city-wide farmers market access project.

The goals of the partnership will be to leverage the power of the well-established winter market along with Fondy’s success in providing access to fresh, wholesome food.

"This merger allows two great organizations with distinct and very different strengths to leverage what they do best into something so much more for the region," says Young Kim, executive director of Fondy.  

The MCWFM will will begin its market season Nov. 7, offering up the same quality produce, bakery, meat, poultry, eggs, fish, dairy and cheeses, grains and specialty products and preserves as usual. In fact, customers are unlikely to see much of a difference in the market overall. However, the collaboration between the two organizations aims to increase both the sustainability of the market overall, as well as its reach to a new consumer base.

"In our six seasons we’ve continued to grow as a winter market and we’ve experienced significant success at the Mitchell Park Domes," says Ritch Durheim, president of the MCWFM board. "We are excited about our partnership with Fondy, which will allow us to realize our mission to "provide equitable access to wholesome food."

Fondy will now have a market in operation almost every week of the year – providing year round healthy food access and economic opportunities for small producers and diverse consumers across the region.

"I’m eager to see how to apply lessons learned from our regular summer market to this winter market so that everyone, regardless of income, has a shot at getting the fresh, locally produced foods that are the building blocks for a healthy and productive life," notes Kim.

The Milwaukee County Winter Farmers Market takes place Nov. 7 through April 9 on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Domes Annex at the Mitchell Park Conservatory, 524 S. Layton Blvd.