Colleen Poulin, left, and Bonnie Shulman from Auburn load up their plates at the Lewiston Farmer’s Market spaghetti squash benefit dinner at the YWCA in Lewsiton on Sunday night. Sun Journal photo by Andree Kehn
LEWISTON — The Lewiston Farmers’ Market kicked off its third summer season Sunday with its Spaghetti (Squash!) Dinner fundraiser at the gymnasium of the YWCA on East Avenue.
While the market’s summer season does not officially begin until May 12, Sherie Blumenthal, one of its longtime supporters and program development coordinator for the St. Mary’s Nutrition Center, said the dinner serves to stoke people’s excitement and raise funds for the market itself.
Blumenthal said all of the food being served at the dinner was made with “farm-fresh and seasonal ingredients” from local vendors.
As 4:30 p.m. rolled by, people who had bought tickets for the event lined up and volunteers served spaghetti and meatballs, spaghetti squash, creamy butternut squash soup, spring salad, buttery garlic bread and a number of desserts, including gluten-free options and homemade cupcakes from Jillson’s Farm in Sabattus.
At the back of the gymnasium, the band “Slim’s Got the Blues,” with Charlie Bernstein on guitar and Waterford Slim on the harmonica, performed.
Several vendors with the market — some old, some new — lined up tables on the side of the room as part of an impromptu “mini farmer’s market.”
Judy Maloney, a vendor who started Herban Works with Mary Hopkins in 2015, said it was her first time participating in the Spaghetti (Squash!) Dinner.
Maloney said Herban Works began four years ago to provide women at the Center for Wisdom’s Women on Blake Street a place to sell their products, including calendula salves, lip balms, oils and teas and other blended herbs.
She said she was impressed with the teamwork of the Lewiston Farmers’ Market volunteers and vendors in organizing and hosting the dinner.
“We’re trying to expand our business one step at a time,” Maloney said, “and this seemed like a fun way to do it.”
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