The Indiana Grown Marketplace in the Mercantile Buliding, formerly known as the Ag/Hort Building, is back for this year’s Indiana State Fair!
You can find, “everything from honey to meat products. You’ve got some craft products. You’ve got things made out of wool, potato chips,” says Don Lamb, director of the Indiana State Department of Agriculture. “We’ve got caramel apple cinnamon donut flavored candles. Wow! How do you do that?”
The Indiana Grown Marketplace offers fairgoers the opportunity to shop from over 500 unique products representing 110 Hoosier businesses in one location at the Indiana State Fair.
Indiana Grown is the state’s local agricultural marketing initiative and boasts around 1,700 members! It’s free to join if you grow, process, package, or produce products in Indiana.
Lt. Governor and Secretary of Agriculture Micah Beckwith says the Indiana Grown program is a great one.
“It’s a practical application of how government can just inspire people and help them do better in their business. And that really is the role of government. We don’t do it for you, but we can say, ‘Hey, if you’ve got a product, we can connect you with the customer.’ If you’re a customer looking for good product, we can connect you that way too. And that’s what Indiana Grown is all about.”
After budget cuts hit government agencies, including ISDA, during this last legislative session, Hoosier Ag Today asked Beckwith and Lamb what the future of the Indiana Grown program is.
“I think it’s healthy,” Beckwith explained. “I think we’re not going to lose something like this. This is a really common sense, government-business, private-public partnership, and we want to inspire those things.”
“Whenever you have budget cuts or constraints, it makes you prioritize, and it really makes you think, ‘Okay, what’s really important?’ We’re going to do that first,” Lamb said. “And in the future, you might build something back up because you recognize that value. But Indiana Grown is a priority. We’re not going to lose it.”
Learn more about the program at indianagrown.org and be sure to visit the Indiana Grown Marketplace between now and the end of the State Fair on August 17th to support local businesses. They’ll even have tasting samples each Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at 11am.
