Visitors to the Downtown Eatontown Farmers Market last Sunday, Aug. 26, were treated to a display of posters designed by students from Eatontown which depicted the concepts of healthy food, buying locally as well as the “green” aspects of the market. 

The Poster Contest was the brain-child of Eatontown resident Kimberly Alcott.   Market Manager Pamela Caputo noted that “as a nurse and mother, Ms. Alcott's time constraints should make her an unlikely candidate for community service but this is far from true.  

"Ms. Alcott didn't hesitate to organize and facilitate this great program to help engage the children and the community in the idea of the Farmers Market as a resource for a healthy lifestyle,” Caputo said.  

Ms. Alcott contacted Eatontown School District Superintendent Mr. Scott McCue. Soon after, families in the school district with e-mails as well as teachers where made aware of the contest. One teacher, in particular, Jill Wetzel, embraced the idea and encouraged her 7th grade science class to participate. The result was that 40 posters were submitted by the June 1st deadline, hung for display and voted on the next day!

The directions for the contest stated that the market would run from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. which is why all the posters show those times. The hours changed after the contest ended and are now 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. every Sunday. 

Students whose posters were on display included Clay Agnew, Danielle Lister, Danielle Sciarappa, Gina Pericone, Kameryn Richardson, Lauren Lister, Les Paul Morris, Lila Magenheimer, Shannon Brereton and Sheila Escalona. Present for the awards presentations  were Mayor Gerald Tarantolo, Council President Anthony Talerico, Jr., Councilman Meir Araman, Officer Ryan Hennelly who is the Departments DARE liaison, Paul Pizzuto of the Downtown Business Association of Eatontown and Pizzuto's Ravioli and Macaroni, Bob Ferrara of the  Downtown Business Association of Eatontown and Flo's Happy Clipper, Meghan Ryan of the Downtown Business Association of Eatontown and iRestore, Kimberly Alcott who is the Volunteer coordinator and founder of the 1st Annual Downtown Business Association of Eatontown poster contest.

Another local resident, Michael Caputo, Director, New York Film Academy, donated two Gold Passes to the AMC Theatres as the prizes for the ten students whose entries received the most votes. 

Mayor Tarantolo commented on how the Downtown Farmers Market was a project initiated by the Downtown Business Association, supervised by the Green Team, and made possible by the many volunteers who donate their time and energy every week.  He pointed out that much of what happens in small towns like Eatontown is the result of people who care about the community and he encouraged others to get involved in issues that they care about.

He also made the point that the Downtown Farmers Market was for the community as much as any other recreational event might be. He extended a special thanks to Kimberly Alcott for conceiving of the idea and seeing it through to the awards ceremony of that day. As a reminder the Eatontown Downtown Farmers Market is held every Sunday through November  25 at Wampum Park in Eatontown.