Aug. 28, 2008 — A farmers market is coming to the students, in an effort to get the students to go to the farmers market.

On Monday, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., about a half-dozen vendors will set up a farmers market on Newcomb Plaza at the invitation of the University of Virginia Student Council's environmental sustainability committee. The goal is to promote local food to the newly returned students.

"We want to show the students what the City Market looks like," committee member Ben Chrisinger said. "We want to encourage them to buy local foods."

Connie Migliazzo, who organized Monday's event, said she hopes to entice students —those who do their own cooking and those who join a meal plan — to patronize the City Market, which is held Saturday mornings in a parking lot between South and Water streets in Charlottesville.

"They don't need a kitchen to enjoy fresh produce," Migliazzo said. "We want them to know about local food."

Migliazzo worked with the director of the City Market to invite vendors, whose enthusiastic response was more than enough to fill the plaza. Several will offer locally grown produce; others will sell local cheese and organic baked goods.

Monday's on-Grounds market is a one-time-only event, Magliazzo said.

"It would be great to have a farmers market here, but there is already one downtown," she said.

The students are promoting local produce at a time when University Dining Services is incorporating as much local produce as possible in its operations.

For information on Monday's farmers market, click here.