Downtown Association makes healthy living easier than ever with new product search, recipe cards and STEAM Alley

As part of the Downtown SLO Farmers’ Market reboot, the weekly event improves its promotion of health and wellness – eating fresh, staying physically and mentally fit, and connecting to the community – through new product search software on its website, free recipe cards at the market’s information booth, and STEAM Alley, a monthly festival-within-a-festival offering hands-on experiences in Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math.
The Downtown Association, which oversees the Downtown SLO Farmers’ Market, recently added to its website an interactive map that makes shopping for fresh, seasonal ingredients incredibly easy; allowing users to search for items, identify which purveyors will carry that item for the week, and where their booth will be along Higuera Street. To see the new map, visit DowntownSLO.com, click Farmers’ Market, Meet Our Vendors, and Product Search.
“The new search-ability of our market website makes it easier than ever for folks to plan their visit and meal-prep with the freshest locally-produced ingredients available,” says Dominic Tartaglia, Executive Director of the San Luis Obispo Downtown Association. “And it’s all in real-time because, as organizers, we use the same site. If a farmer lets us know they’ll be at the market, as soon as we update it on the back-end, the results are immediately visible to the consumer.”
Additionally, the Downtown SLO Farmers’ Market will be offering complimentary recipe cards at the new-and-improved information booth. “We want to make the items for sale at our market less intimidating to people who don’t know what to do with, say, a beet,” says Jill Bilich, who coordinates the market each week. “After working with farmers and chefs for over three decades, we have quite a nice library of recipes to share.” Recipe cards will be available weekly at the information booth beginning this month.
Also beginning this month is STEAM Alley on Garden Street, where local organizations and businesses offer interactive displays for people of all ages to promote Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math. These might include robotics, crafting, games, or displays featuring design and engineering projects. “Ultimately,” says Tartaglia, “we are creating an opportunity for people to experience new things while also finding entertainment at our market.” STEAM Alley takes place the last Thursday of every month.
“We live a mile from Downtown and always enjoy walking to the market,” says Michael Hughes, Owner of fitness center, Gymnazo, “enjoying a sense of community and buying organic and novelty local produce and products. As a health and fitness professional, I love that our community supports healthy lifestyles!”
“I love Farmers’ Market because it’s a wonderful opportunity to connect with my community in such a fun way, and I can find all the best fresh local produce I want! It’s my happy place!” says Louellen Ferriera, Nutritionist and Founder of Lose It For Life.
For more information about improvements to the Downtown SLO Farmers’ Market, the interactive product search, recipe cards or STEAM Alley, please visit DowntownSLO.com or call the San Luis Obispo Downtown Association at 805-541-0286.