North Akron resident Buddhi Rai has a line of customers waiting to buy vegetables at her table at the HAPI Fresh Farmers Market — from pumpkins to spinach.
Taking care of little ones at home stops her from getting a regular job. But this weekly gig allows her to add to the income her husband brings home.
A few tables away is Miguel Quiroz, a husband, father of four and farmer originally from Solabeja, Mexico. Now living in Salem, about 45 miles southeast from Akron, Quiroz grows fruits and vegetables on nearly 60 acres. Lots of corn and watermelon.
“The market is mostly our income,” he said.
Hundreds of Akron residents, many of Asian and Pacific Islander descent, flock to the weekly farmers market in Akron’s North Hill neighborhood to buy fresh, hard-to-find produce with origins in their native countries from 15 or so vendors. The event is hosted by Asian Services in Action, an organization focused on serving the immigrant and refugee population across Northeast Ohio.
HAPI Fresh Farmers Market runs every Wednesday from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. through Sept. 24.
The first hour of the market is the busiest. Several vendors sell pumpkin shoots, a tip of a pumpkin vine that’s common in Asian and African cuisine.
“If you don’t come early, they’re out,” Anna Chen, the manager of communications and civic engagement for ASIA Inc., said as she pointed to a line of customers at a vendor’s table.
Former California migrant worker planting in Akron
Rai arrived in the U.S. from Bhutan in 2010 by way of California. She moved to Akron three years later to live near her parents, who had also emigrated.
In California, Rai grew produce as a migrant worker. In Akron, she helps to supplement her household income by growing and selling produce at the market.
“My husband also works,” Rai said. “I usually grow, but I also have little kids; because of that, I don’t work in any company. This is my income source.”
The market started in 2015 before moving four years later to its current location of Akron Cooperative Farms. It’s an urban farm consisting of four acres of land where people can rent plots to grow produce and feed their families as well as sell items at area markets.
Rai rents two and a half plots at Akron Cooperative Farms.
“I have the fresh vegetables,” she said, pointing to the spinach that sits on the table at the market, which at 5:30 p.m. is half-stocked after customers purchased a large portion during the first hour.
“They love us. They come to us. I sell a lot, a lot, a lot” of vegetables, she said.
Afghan women prepare traditional dishes at recent farmers market
Once a month at the market, ASIA provides a cooking demonstration from a cultural background reflected in the community. In August, Fatima Sawari and Zainab Khairi, both from Afghanistan, prepared traditional rice dishes from their homeland.
Customers watched Sawari and Zainab as they combined eggplant, onions and tomatoes in a frying pan with garlic seasoning to lay over top the rice that’s boiling on a hot plate next to the vegetables. As for taste testing, the food was devoured within minutes.
“It tastes very good,” said Doug Wurtz, the founder and executive director of Akron Cooperative Farms.
Special events such as the cooking demo bring in close to 1,000 customers, said Malissa Xiong, a program manager for the workforce division at ASIA. Between 500 to 600 patrons come to the market on off weeks.
What’s the purpose of the Akron farmers market?
ASIA also created the HAPI market to provide employment for immigrants, who often struggle to find jobs at companies where the hiring process requires candidates to speak fluent English.
“We opened it up for small entrepreneurs,” Xiong said. “In the past, we did have a five-acre farm in Medina for them to farm and grow vegetables to sell. But with all that, people started going into manufacturing, so we just kind of stick with the farmers market right now.”
Even with many farmers going to work for manufacturing companies, Xiong continued, it’s been harder the last few years for those with language barriers to pass verbal interviews because companies have become stricter about who they hire.
So, many immigrants have returned to farming.
Because of that, the land ASIA uses for the market is full, Xiong said. Immigrants who want to farm again “have been calling us for more land. We don’t have any other land. We’re trying to find more land, open land for next year.”
Vendors at HAPI Fresh Farmers Market
- Quiroz Crus Family Farm
- Der’s Vegetables
- Nhia’s Farm
- Mai’s Family
- Angelicious
- Buddhi Fresh
- Mongali Family
- Akron Fungus
- Stray Dog
- Manug Chit
- Mi Pu Ku
- Maney’s
- Thida Aung
- Sushmita’s Veggies
- Let’s Grow Akron
- Mani Ghatan
- Akron Cooperative Farm
- ASIA’s ICHC-Behavioral Health
- Jin Huo Community
- Kent State
- NEOMED