USDA Farmers Market tonight
July 17, 2015 |04:31 PM
Held outside USDA headquarters at 12th and Independence Avenue S.W. near the Smithsonian Metro stop, tonight’s event is one of the Agricultural Marketing Service’s month experiments in having a market in the evening.
In keeping with a theme of “Hot & Cold,” the musical act DC Choro, a Brazilian band, will heat things up by playing the best of samba, bossa nova, forró and choro sounds.
Participating food trucks include Carolina Q, Dirty South Deli, Fava Pot, Greatest American Hot Dogs, Randy Radish, and Sang on Wheels.
More than 10 members of Union Kitchen, a D.C.-based food incubator, and other local food businesses will offer dinner options along with fresh fruits and vegetables, cut flowers, breads and baked goods, cheeses, and specialty items — “all perfect for an evening picnic on the National Mall,” AMS said.
The U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council will be at the market to celebrate the 100th birthday of the blueberry and its journey from farm to table since Elizabeth White, the daughter of a New Jersey farmer, teamed up with USDA botanist Frederick Coville to identify wild plants with the most desirable properties and crossbred these bushes to create new blueberry varieties. They harvested and sold the first commercial crop of blueberries out of Whitesbog, N.J., in 1916.
Remaining night markets will be held August 21, September 18 and October 16.
