Forget Mr. Frosty, the ice cream truck.
Call this new healthy-eating initiative ... Mr. Veggie.
Starting on Tuesday, a mobile farmers market will begin regular stops each week during the coming months in Shelbyville and Morristown.
The goal of the “Healthy Harvest Market” is to bring fresh produce and fresh fruit to areas of the city where it’s not easy to find those products, said Denise Holland, coordinator of Healthy Shelby County.
“We have two census tracts in the city of Shelbyville that are food deserts,” she said.
According to the American Nutrition Association, the U.S. Department of Agriculture defines a food desert as a census tract in which at least 500 people, or at least 33 percent of the residents, live more than one mile from a supermarket or large grocery store.
For rural census tracts, the distance is more than 10 miles from a large grocer.
“Morristown is another food desert,” Holland told a group of nonprofit representatives gathered at Shelby Senior Services, 1504 S. Harrison St.
She said, more and more, hospitals are stepping in to expand healthy eating programs rather than relying on government subsidies.
Major Health Partners is supporting the mobile farmers market initiative, Holland said, at the meeting Thursday of the Shelby County Council on Aging.
Healthy Shelby County, which she manages, is a part of MHP, which operates the local hospital.
The mobile farmers market is set to operate seasonally, and may expand beyond that, Holland said.
“We’re working toward a winter’s farmers market,” she said.
The times and locations for the weekly Healthy Harvest Market are:
n 4 to 8 p.m. Tuesdays at Shelbyville Parks Department, 945 S. Tompkins St.
n 8 a.m. to noon Wednesdays at Hancock Health Center, 219 E. Main St., Morristown
n 4 to 8 p.m. Thursdays on 100 block of West Jackson Street behind the First Presbyterian Church
The Morristown market is being done in partnership with Hancock Regional Health, Holland said.
All of the Healthy Harvest Markets are open to everyone, and the prices of the foods offered will be very affordable, she said.