A new weekly farmer’s market featuring fresh, locally grown foods, live music and health information will be on the UA Mall today in an effort to promote a healthier campus, Campus Health Service said.
“”Market on the Mall”” is the brainchild of Campus Health, which hopes to create a culture of health and wellness at the UA, said Gale Welter, coordinator of the event and a nutrition counselor at Campus Health.
The event will provide students the opportunity to not only buy fresh foods but also to meet local growers and discover what they have, how it was grown and when it was picked, Welter said. A consumer has a better chance to know more about the food at this event than if it was bought in a package at the grocery store, she said.
The UA Department of Risk Management and Safety will be staffing a table, said Julia Rosen, an industrial hygienist. Along with providing information on general health and safety issues, they’ll be hooking up attendees’ iPods to a decibel meter.
This popular technological device that many people put in their ears every day can cause permanent noise-induced hearing loss, Rosen said. “”People don’t take it seriously until it’s too late.””
Denise Spartonos, a health educator with the Arizona Cancer Center’s Skin Cancer Institute, said they will offer sunscreen samples and information that shows the health effects of the sun, cancer information and copies of a healthy lifestyle cookbook.
The department of agriculture and resource economics will provide information both at a table and on a brand-new Web site designed to provide consumers with grower information in Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, Nevada and Colorado, said Russ Tronstad, a department professor and extension specialist.
The Web site features a centralized growing calendar, in which users can search for crop availability for all five of those states, Tronstad said. The site allows growers to establish an account and update their information online.
West African-style drumming will fill the Mall at noon when the School of Music’s World Music Gang takes the stage to provide entertainment for the health and wellness event, Welter said.
“”Part of wellness is joy of life,”” Welter said.
Coffees from around the world, including Ethiopia, Nicaragua and Sumatra, can be sampled at the Adventure Coffee Roasting booth, where company owner Scott Gilliland said he will be roasting coffee right on the Mall.
“”(Roasting) has just been a huge passion of mine since the early ’80s,”” he said, describing the aroma and taste of freshly roasted coffee as “”amazing.””
UA alumnus Herm Wille and his wife will be featuring their artisan food line at the farmer’s market. The artisan line includes strawberry-lavender preserves, raspberry-cocoa preserves and hatch green chile sauce, Wille said.
Many of the growers and vendors are regulars at the Tucson Farmer’s Market at St. Philip’s Plaza and the Oro Valley Farmer’s Market, said Manish Shah, vendor coordinator and owner of the Maya Tea Company, which will also have a booth at the event.
This week’s inaugural market will have about 15 vendors, but that number is expected to rise to 25 before long, Wille said.
The Market on the Mall will be on the Mall every Friday, except for Homecoming and Thanksgiving weekends and winter break, Welter said.
