The ninth annual Central Oregon Fill Your Pantry event will be Saturday, November 9th from 11am to 3pm at the OSU-Extension parking lot at the Deschutes County Fairgrounds.
Fill Your Pantry (FYP) is a yearly, bulk-focused farmers market created to increase food security and resilience in Central Oregon by encouraging the community to load up their pantries, freezers, and cupboards with sustainable local food. Farmers, ranchers, and food makers gather together once a year to offer bulk discounts to the community. While the market is focused on bulk quantities, there are still plenty of smaller quantities. Customers can find anything from 20 pound burlap sacks of potatoes, bushels of apples, buckets of frozen berries, and half lamb shares to loaves of gluten-free sourdough, holiday wreaths, and jars of sauerkraut. There is something for everyone at Fill Your Pantry.
Pre-orders for FYP are now live and run until 7am on November 2nd. Pre-ordering for FYP is not mandatory to attend the event, but merely ensures that you get the products you want. There will be more items available day-of that are not reserved, but some vendors can sell out quickly. Pre-orders must be picked up at the event on November 9th with no exceptions.
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP/EBT) and Farm Direct Nutrition Program (FDNP) vouchers are accepted at this event. Bend Farmers Market, a partner of FYP, will be present to exchange SNAP/EBT for tokens that can be used at most vendor booths, and will be offering up to $100 matching funds with the Double Up Food Bucks (DUFB) program (up from $20 in DUFB last year!). This means that if $100 of SNAP funds are exchanged, $200 in SNAP tokens will be received.
In an effort to continuously make local food more accessible to our community, we are also partnering with High Desert Food & Farm Alliance (HDFFA) and the Bend Food Project to collect food donations. Bend Food Project will be collecting non-perishable food items at their booth to donate to the Giving Plate Food Pantry and HDFFA will be collecting fresh food items to donate to NeighborImpact and their associated food pantries. Consider bringing a non-perishable food item or buying an extra bulk item at FYP to donate. Help us fill everyone’s pantries this year.
Other fun additions to watch out for this year at Fill Your Pantry include:
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Coloring Contest- see website for more details
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Knife sharpening- get those kitchen knives in tip top shape before winter
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Cookbook Swap- bring a cookbook to share, leave with a new-to-you cookbook
Help support and strengthen the Central Oregon local food system! For more information on what to expect, vendor information, and more, visit our website at www.centraloregonfillyourpantry.com.
