Larger than Life Artful Apples on Display at SE Michigan Farmers Markets
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Dan Carmody, Eastern Market
(313) 833-9300
Denise Donohue
(800) 456-2753
(Dewitt, MI)—Southeast Michigan farmers’ market customers will get more than their favorite fall apples in the next few weeks. They’ll also enjoy creative and artful, larger-than-life-apples on the MI Apple Trail, a unique public art event that draws attention to Michigan’s largest fruit crop, to Detroit’s Eastern Market and 20 other area farmers markets.
Shoppers browsing the 20 participating markets in Wayne, Genesee and Oakland Counties along MI Apple Trail (pronounced “my apple trail”) will also have a chance to earn prizes by visiting five participating markets and getting their “passports” stamped. No purchase is necessary. Passports and all MI Apple Trail rules are available at the participating markets and at www.michiganapples.com/mi-apple-trail.html and at www.miappletrail.com. Passports must be postmarked by October 8, 2011.
President of Detroit’s Eastern Market, Dan Carmody, dreamed up the idea for MI Apple Trail to enhance the market’s Fall Apple Gala and Auction, borrowing the similar themes from Chicago’s Cows On Parade and New York City’s Apple Fest.
“This is a great opportunity to bring attention to agriculture in Michigan, which is our second leading industry,” Carmody said. “Already it has been exciting to see what has been unveiled at the farmers markets for the public to experience.”
Earlier this summer each participating market received their own 4-foot tall, made-in-Holt, Mich., fiberglass apple, and with the help of local artists decorated it with their chosen theme. The apples are now on public display at the local market, where shoppers can view them while getting passports stamped.
Anyone who misses the giant apples at local markets can see them all at Detroit Eastern Market, where they’ll be gathered from September 24 until the Apple Gala and Auction on October 14.
Photos of all apples will be featured at www.miappletrail.com. The public is encouraged to vote for their favorite apple and get their friends to vote. The People’s Choice Award and other awards will be bestowed on the giant MI Apples at the Fall Apple Gala, where they will also be auctioned off. Proceeds will be returned to the local farmers market which designed that apple.
Stops along MI Apple Trail include:
- Auburn Hills Farmers Market
- Birmingham Farmers Market
- Clawson Farmers Market
- Dearborn Farmers & Artisans Market
- Detroit Eastern Market
- Detroit Eastern Tuesdays
- Detroit Eastside Farmers Market
- Farmington Farmers Market
- Flint Farmers Market
- Franklin Farmers Market
- Garden City Farmers Market
- Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital Market
- Lake Orion Farmers Market
- Milford Farmers Market
- Northwest Detroit Farmers Market
- Novi Farmers Market
- Rochester Farmers Market
- Royal Oak Farmers Market
- Detroit Wayne State Wednesday Farmers Market
- Wyandotte Farmers Market
Complete details about MI Apple Trail can be found at MichiganApples.com/contests and www.miappletrail.com.
Detroit Eastern Market is located between Gratiot and Mack, bordered by St. Aubin and the I-75 service drive—just northeast of downtown Detroit at 2934 Russell. The market, which is the nation’s oldest public market, is open to the general public on Saturdays from 5 am – 5 pm and on Tuesdays from 11 am to 7 pm. Get more information about Eastern Market Corporation at www.detroiteasternmarket.com.