BUFFALO, N.Y. — Slow Roll Buffalo is hosting a special Harvest Roll on Saturday to help teach riders about our local food resources and farms.
This weekend, Slow Roll Buffalo's second annual Harvest Roll will highlight the importance of urban farming. It is a chance for cyclists to learn more about our local urban farms and gardens.
The Massachusetts Avenue Project is included on the route.
"We do a saladette tomato, and a big green tomato, we have some Mexican sunflowers in here," MAP farm manager Katherine Pfohl said.
This is one of Slow Roll's special ticketed events that started in 2020.
"As a way of survival for us to just keep it going as a nonprofit by having ticketed fundraiser rides that help keep the Monday rides free. So there's an abundance of themes that we can come up with, and partners that we can work with, to make these sort of more intimate rides, unique experiences," Slow Roll Buffalo co-founder Seamus Gallivan said.
They come with things such as T-shirts, food, drinks, and an experience different from the Monday Slow Rolls. Two ticketed rides are coming up in October: Beers, Bikes, and Barges as well as All Potholes Eve, a Halloween-themed ride.
Tickets sales are closed for Saturday's Harvest Roll, but the event that goes along with it is free and open to anyone looking to learn more about our local farms and food systems. It's Saturday from noon to 4 p.m. at the Lexington Co-Op on Hertel.
"We put so much of our energy into sourcing local products, impacting our local economy. We had $13 million in sales that got spit right back into the local economy in this past year, and we're working more and more every single year to increase that," Lexington Co-op markets marketing manager Jennifer White said.
Added Pfohl: "A direct sale from a farmer is going to be totally different than buying from a big box store, and if you're buying local and you have the ability to talk to your farmer about their growing methods, about what they're spraying on their fields, what their soil quality is like, why they're growing a certain type of thing, then it's a totally different experience that really can come full circle."
The Massachusetts Avenue Project is also holding a fundraiser on Oct. 15 called "Raising the Roots" to support food equity.