New Bedford’s Coastal Foodshed to kick-off first special event since receiving Wicked Cool Places grant

On Friday, October 25th, Coastal Foodshed was awarded $8,500 from Wicked Cool Places, New Bedford’s creative place-making program, financed by the city’s Arts, Culture and Tourism Fund.

Celebrate food and art at the Indoor Farmers Market! Join Coastal Foodshed on Saturday, Dec 21st from 10a-2p at the First Unitarian Church for Gingerbread House making along with a Seafood Demonstration and live music. This Saturday kicks-off a series of monthly events (from December thru April), Palate to Palette: Art at the Farmers Market, aimed to transform the Indoor Farmers Market into an edible canvas. Customers will be to watch a live cooking demo featuring products they can purchase at the market, and sample products from each vendor’s booth.

Palate to Palette will also include a local artist and challenge them to build upon their own unique style of color and their impression of food from the market. Activities may include live sculpting, interactive art activities, artistic food display, etc. In addition to the food and art activities, there will be live music featuring local musicians.

Coastal Foodshed will collaborate with Rhonda Fazio, a New Bedford-based Artist, to connect with local artists and enhance the arts and culture activities at the market. The Palate to Palette event is an opportunity to transform a downtown space through inclusive, positive and fun events that use food as a bridge to connect art, history and culture. Coastal Foodshed invites Artists, Chefs, and Musicians who may be interested in collaborating to send an email of inquiry to rhonda@coastalfoodshed.org. Wicked Cool Places is a multi-cultural event and is open to everyone.

Coastal Foodshed manages the indoor weekly New Bedford Farmers Market from November to May (in addition to their outdoor markets May-October) and provides access to a variety of locally grown/produced items such as produce, meats, eggs, jams, honey, baked goods and artisan products.

For more information, visit coastalfoodshed.org. Environmental Alchemist, Rhonda M. Fazio specializes in the art of crafting food and fabric and is the owner of Dyer Maker Studio located in historic downtown New Bedford. A traveling classroom based in the South Coast, Ms. Fazio teaches the art and history of textile design to a new generation of up and coming entrepreneurs and has written a number of grants as a series of educational workshops aptly named: “Teaching through Textiles” for secondary schools. You can find Rhonda around the South Coast also teaching the “Art and Language” of food with the Coastal Food Shed.