Set-Up: Gymnasium Growlings

When all there is to taste is anticipation, I can't really picture the scope and density of vendors with which I will confront when the event swings into full gear. The ambiguity regarding the colorful signs and gymnasium setting (Are you back in High School forced to sit through a homecoming rally?) will quickly melt away once chefs, local businesses, and organizations fill the gym to the brim with food samples and equally spirited cheers for local food and community. Instead of remembering the four still fresh years of gym class when I demanded that no one look at me for my Medusa-like awkwardness, I'll be all too eager to look through literature and at food samples while talking to the vendors, placing faces to names.

Working for Valley Food and Farm in the past and indirectly with many of the vendors at Flavors of The Valley (FOV) makes this event that much more filling in terms of connecting faces and people's stories to the farms, restaurants, non-profits, etc. that they represent and work with. As we loudly roll tables and chairs onto the gym floor, the echoes of the set-up will pale in comparison to the tummy growlings of all of us involved in working with Valley Food and Farm and our hunger to interact with old and new acquaintances, partners in community.