LA PORTE COUNTY, Ind. — Farmed & Forged marked Farmed to Fork Weekend on Sept. 12 in Michigan City and Sept. 13 in La Porte with chef demonstrations, kids’ scavenger hunts, and an expanded SNAP match meant to help households replace food lost in August’s derecho outages, WIMS Radio reported Sept. 11.
Supported in part by a Weather Emergency Grant from Healthcare Foundation of La Porte, SNAP shoppers who spent $20 from an EBT card could receive an additional $60 in matching benefits — $80 total — while funding lasted, according to the WIMS announcement. Shoppers were directed to the Farmed & Forged information tent before shopping to unlock the expanded match.
Key facts
- Sat., Sept. 12: Michigan City market, 8 a.m.–noon, 800 Washington Street — Chef Blāque Shelton plus a guest chef (WIMS)
- Sun., Sept. 13: La Porte market, 10 a.m.–1 p.m., Lincolnway and Monroe Street — Shelton with Chef Darrick Tucker Jr. (WIMS)
- SNAP: $20 EBT → +$60 match = $80 market power while funds last (WIMS)
- Kids under 18: scavenger hunt prize + $2 Chef Cash; first 50 kids at each market get a swag bag and $4 total Chef Cash (WIMS)
Mandy Krickhahn, founder and CEO of The Collective Events, Inc., which operates the markets, told WIMS the weekend is about linking farmers, chefs, and shoppers. “When someone spends $20 in SNAP and leaves with $80 in fresh, local food, that is a huge win for both the shopper and our local farmers,” she said.
Chef Cash is part of the Curious Chefs program, Krickhahn said, so children choose produce themselves instead of having an adult decide. Live cooking demos were billed to show how peak-season vendor ingredients become simple home meals, with free samples while supplies lasted. Markets also featured in-season fruits, vegetables, herbs, locally raised foods, baked goods, and honey from Northwest Indiana vendors, WIMS reported.
The September celebration builds on an earlier storm-response expansion. On Aug. 20, the La Porte Herald-Dispatch reported that Farmed & Forged was boosting SNAP matching after severe storms and widespread power outages across La Porte County. “For families already navigating food insecurity, losing a refrigerator or freezer full of groceries during an extended outage can create a major setback,” Krickhahn said in that staff report.
The August Herald-Dispatch account tied that earlier expansion to a storm-response grant from Healthcare Foundation of La Porte — the same funder WIMS later credited for the Farmed to Fork Weather Emergency Grant — and quoted Krickhahn on how outage food loss compounds existing insecurity. WIMS said the September weekend match likewise routes extra dollars to area farmers and food businesses while helping households restock after the derecho.
Farmed to Fork Weekend therefore sits at the intersection of three community-desk themes: recovery from the August derecho, support for households using federal nutrition benefits, and celebration of local food producers. Organizers framed the chef stages and kids’ activities as on-ramps for new shoppers who may not regularly buy from producer markets.
Residents who missed the Sept. 12–13 events can still watch for future Farmed & Forged SNAP match windows and HFL weather-emergency or food-access grants as cleanup and household budgets remain uneven across the county. A draft-time check of Region News Source found no matching September Farmed to Fork package; weekend logistics here follow WIMS, with August storm-match context from the Herald-Dispatch.