Farmday Funday logo.

Some of the produce that was given out to residents.

An urban, pop-up, backyard farmers’ market came to Columbia for the first time on July 8 at Hyatt Park.

Farmday Funday allowed families to take home healthy food for free. The event provided support and access to healthy food and resources for sustaining a healthy lifestyle for children during the summer months.

Serve and Connect, a non-profit organization, along with its partners in the community hosted the event.

“What people don’t know is in areas in north Columbia, you may think there is a great food access, but we are in a food desert. It’s really difficult to get access to healthy food so we wanted to provide a little boost during the summer months when healthy eating can be difficult,” said Kassy Alia, CEO of Serve and Connect.

The organization aims to build community resilience and well-being through transformative police and community work.

Summer months in particular are hard for families to get access to healthy food. Farmday Funday also featured games and activities including live cooking demonstrations and taught support for urban gardening, agriculture, and healthy eating.

There are no plans just yet for another Farmday Funday but Alia said this is just the beginning of events like this for the area and she hopes to host more in the future.