Astoria Sunday Market has announced that they now accept food stamps. Food stamps, often referred to as SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) or EBT (Electronic Benefits Transfer), help to put food on the table for millions of people throughout the United States. They provide low-income households with benefits that they can use like cash at grocery stores and farmers markets. It’s especially exciting for farmer’s markets, for the consumer gets to interact with the farmers and food producers that grew and/or processed the food that they are taking home.

Bringing food stamps to the market is just the beginning. There are many programs available to farmer’s markets that can double the amount of benefits that low-income community members can receive. Astoria Sunday Market hopes to qualify for these programs sometime during the next few seasons. This will benefit not only the community members, but can also greatly increase sales for local farms and food producers to strengthen the local farming and food community.

The Astoria Sunday Market is open every Sunday from 10-3 on 12th St., in Downtown Astoria until October 10. For more information, contact Market Manager Shelby Meyers at (503) 440-7168 or shelby@astoriadowntown.com.