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See Opinion/! orum pages on A4
THURSDAY, August 20, 2020
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C
Volume 46, Number 46
Liberty Street Market is revived
BY TEVIN STINSON
THE CHRONICLE
The City of Winston-
Salem is looking to pump
new life into the Liberty
Street Farmers Market.
The market officially
opened in 2014 but hasn’t
been open consistently
since 2016, until now.
Last week the Urban Food
Advisory Council held a
grand re-opening for the
market located in the heart
of a food desert.
A food desert is an area
that has limited access to
healthy and affordable
food. And according to the
U.S. Department of Agri
culture (USDA), in order
to qualify as a food desert
in urban areas, at least 500
people or 33% of the popu
lation must live more than
one mile from the nearest
large grocery store.
To address food deserts
here in Winston-Salem, in
2017 the Urban Food Ad
visory Council (UFAC)
Photos by Tevin Stinson
The Liberty Street Farmers Market, 1551 N. Liberty Street, will be open from 4 to 6 p.m. every second and fourth Friday through the end of
October.
Granville Farms Inc., was one of several vendors that participated in the grand re
opening of Liberty Street Farmers Market.
was formed to initiate
and promote food access
throughout the city with
particular emphasis on the
urban core. Megan Regan,
UFAC chair, said the coun
cil has been working since
its inception on evaluating
the Liberty Street Market.
The market, which cost
the city $350,000 to design
and build, is comprised of
two covered shelters and
parking lot. As mentioned
earlier, city officials held a
grand opening for the mar
ket in 2014, but since then
many have questioned
why it was even built.
Earlier this year the
council received a grant
to open the market ev
ery two weeks for three
months. Regan, who is an
economics professor at
Wake Forest University,
said the grant specifies
that the farmers must pro
duce within a five-mile ra
dius of the market. So after
reaching out to local farm
ers and deciding what day
and time would work best,
the council got to work ad
vertising for the grand re
opening.
“Our goal is to address
the food desert situation in
this part of town as well
as use this space for what
it was designed for,” Re
gan said while speaking
with The Chronicle during
the grand re-opening last
week.
Regan said as we con
tinue to try to navigate
through uncertain times,
people are paying more
attention to issues such as
food insecurity and now
more than ever communi
ties need to take a serious
look at ways to create sus
tainable neighborhoods.
“Right now with CO-
VID-19 there is stronger
awareness of food safety
and security provided by
small scale local farmers...
as well as really needing to
take a look at sustainable
See Market on A2
Kellie Easton running to fill spot as NAACP president with
Carlisle stepping down
Grassroots organizer looks to keep local NAACP relevant
BY TEVIN STINSON
THE CHRONICLE
Community activist
and grassroots organizer
Kellie Easton has put her
name in the running to be
come the next president of
the Winston-Salem Chap
ter of the NAACR Easton
said when she received
word that current president
Rev. Alvin Carlisle wasn’t
running for re-election,
she decided to step up and
accept the challenge.
“It was always one of
my goals but I didn’t think
it would happen now,
so when I learned Carl
isle wasn’t running, then
I gave it some thought,”
Easton continued. “But
I think what really con
firmed it for me was read
ing an article that Melissa
Harris-Perry wrote about
how to save the NAACP
from irrelevance.”
In the opinion piece
published in the New
York Times, Harris-Perry,
a professor at Wake For
est University, discussed
Submitted photo
Kellie Easton
several changes that need save the organization that
to happen to ultimately was founded in 1909 to
advance justice for African
Americans. Easton said
at a place in time where
there is a huge disconnect
between young people and
the older generation and
some of the traditional
organizations, with her
experience working with
up-and-coming grassroots
organizers and local orga
nizations like the NAACP
and others, she has what
it takes to keep the local
chapter of the organization
relevant for years to come.
“I have a very solid re
lationship with a lot of the
elders in the community,
while at the same time I’m
very active in the grass-
roots community and so I
think we all want the same
things but we just haven’t
been able to bridge the
gap,” Easton said.
Easton said to stay
relevant the organization
must be able educate the
community and have the
ability to apply pressure
to the power structure. “I
feel like that has a lot to do
with the roots of the orga
nization and that’s exactly
what I feel is needed now,”
she said.
A native of Winston-
Salem and graduate of
Morgan State University,
Easton is most known
throughout the commu
nity for her work with
Action4Equity, a grass-
roots organization geared
See Easton on A2
www.wschronicle.com
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