The fourth season of the Downtown Farmers' Market opened on June 18, 2013, this time on the plaza outside of Fall River's Government Center. Half a dozen farm stands as well as several local vendors, a food booth from Re-Creation, informational tables by the Peace Corps and Project Assist and live music by the Nuvo Duo band were on hand on the first day of the new Tuesday market that runs from 5:30 to 8:00 p.m. each week from June through October. Dozens of people walked through the market that ran along South Main Street and Sullivan Drive, taking advantage of early vegetables for sale along with other offerings from vendors and craft tables. "People seemed pretty happy both with the location change and the new hours," noted Partners Health and Well-Being Coordinator Annemarie Sharkey who organizes the Market each year. Other markets are also available at Saint Anne's Hospital on Mondays, at Ruggles Park on Wednesdays, at Charlton Hospital on Thursdays, and at Kennedy Park on Saturday mornings. Partners will have someone available each week to exchange EBT SNAP benefits for tokens that can be used with a number of the farmers at each of the markets. Click here for a three-minute video. Click here for the Herald News article. Click here for photos of last year's market. For more information, contact Annemarie Sharkey at Greater Fall River Re-Creation at 508-679-0922.

(Top row, left) Partners staff member Brittany Bertone sets up the pop-up tent for the Re-Creation food table as Jamison Souza checks on the impending rain forecast. (Top row, center) Sherry Warner and Priscilla Andrade sign up for the drawing for $15 in Partners Farmers' Market tokens with Health and Well-Being Coordinator Annemarie Sharkey. (Top row, right) Donald Barlow and Walter McKay purchase some tomatoes from Lucy Soares of the Back to Nature Farms in Swansea. (Row three, left) The Nuvo Duo band entertains the crowd from the balcony above while Mary Mehri of Quansett Gardens farm in Dartmouth, MA sells produce and bakery items. (Row four) Susan Loughlin and Lindsey Magan of the University of Massachusetts Extension Nutrition Education Program serve samples of a health dish made with fresh local produce to Stephanie and Jason Trenholm and their son, Sawyer, and to Sherry Warner, Ellen Raymond and Marcia Pinheiro. (Bottom row, left) Kathryn Fidler of the Peace Corps and Project Assist case manager Laura Washington sit at their tables. (Bottom row, center) Fall River Health and Human Services Director Dr. Henry Vaillancourt telephones his wife to talk over a produce purchase. (Bottom row, right) Becky Forand of Unraveled Mess tlks with customrer Thomas Mills.