Join Shalom Farms for 15th anniversary open house

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — Shalom Farms is inviting the community to celebrate the nonprofit’s 15th Anniversary Open House this weekend.

The event will run from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, July 21, at the organization’s Westwood Avenue location in Richmond.

Families can enjoy farm tours, food trucks, a cooking demonstration, a mobile market and more.

“This is a working farm in the heart of the city which is not something folks usually have the opportunity to see because farms are far away, and they’re not on a bus line, and they’re not five minutes away from your house,” Änna Ibrahim, Shalom Farms executive director, told 8News. “This is a really cool opportunity to come and see how vegetables are grown, how a farm operates, and how the quality of the food that goes out to the community – how that is done.”

Since 2009, the nonprofit — founded by the United Methodist Urban Ministries of Richmond — has grown more than two million pounds of produce for the City of Richmond. It has also run more than 25,000 farmer’s markets in area neighborhoods.

“It sort of evolved over those 15 years to become a public nonprofit that does a lot of work in areas that have low access to fresh food,” Ibrahim explained. “Here in Richmond, that means the Northside, the Southside and the East End.”

Sunday will also feature information booths from various community organizations, and a brief program at 2:30 p.m.

A schedule of Sunday’s events and an RSVP link can be found on the Shalom Farms website .

Shalom Farms’ Northside Farm is located at 1311 Westwood Avenue.

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