Roots Rising Makes Hay At Its First Hoedown

Farm-fresh food, toe-tapping live music, and a tent full of contra dancers clad in cowboy boots, ten-gallon hats, and their finest plaid and denim pairings — Roots Rising’s first fundraiser had everything you’d want in your first big Hoedown Throwdown. A sold-out crowd of 200 supporters gathered at Hancock Shaker Village on Friday, Oct. 4 to raise money for the Pittsfield-based nonprofit that created the first teen-run farmers market. Roots Rising, which recently won a Berkshire Trendsetter Award for Nonprofit Impact, was able to debut its brand-new food truck at the Hoedown. With support from the Lenox Garden Club and Mill Town Capital, the teen-run truck will serve as a way for local young people to learn entrepreneurial and culinary skills. Plans for the future of the organization include launching an urban youth farm in downtown Pittsfield. Roots Rising, which began as a farmers market bringing year-round fresh food to the “food desert” of the Morningside neighborhood, now employees 43 teens a year and empowers the city’s youth, giving them a sense of purpose in a time when many teens, and adults, often feel a sense of isolation, anxiety and depression. Read more about Jess and the beginnings of the Pittsfield Farmers Market.