Kudos to the Flathead Beacon for highlighting the zero-waste Whitefish Farmers Market. This new vision for the market would be a success any year, and pulling it off in the summer of COVID-19 was spectacular. Climate Smart Glacier Country also wants to make it clear that credit for the zero-waste vision and the herculean efforts for planning and implementing that vision belongs to the farmers market organizing committee, principally Rhonda Fitzgerald, market co-founder and organizer, and Gretchen Boyer, executive director of Farmhands Nourish. They led the research, the months of vendor communications, and coordinating the changes to the market’s policies, structure and waste management that made the market successfully waste-free this season. Climate Smart Glacier Country’s role was limited to coordinating an analysis of the market throughout the summer, to support the market in making informed adjustments for the 2021 zero-waste farmers market season.
Robin Kelson, board member
Climate Smart Glacier Country