Each year at the Indiana State Fair (when there isn’t a pandemic that prevents it from happening), one of the hot spots at the fairgrounds is the Indiana Grown Marketplace. Now, you can get Indiana Grown products year-round online.
ShopIndianaGrown.org was launched last week.
“You can find honey. You can find body products that are made using Indiana sourced ingredients like mint and lavender,” says Indiana Grown Program Director Heather Tallman. “You also can find value added meat from Smoking Goose and Turchetti’s, two well-known Indianapolis brands. So, you see things from all over the state, and we’re starting small and careful the way any small business would get their start. We’re making sure we work out the kinks and making sure we have something to offer everyone and making sure we could ship it to them quickly.”
Tallman adds that the response to the online marketplace has been tremendous so far. They are starting small, but they’re looking to grow.
“Everyone is invited provided they have a product that they can ship. So, there are some people who aren’t quite ready for this. So, if they make a product in their home, like a value-added salsa or jam, this might not be the project for them. They’re not ready for that yet. But for all of our members, we want to assure them that this is open for all of them. They just have to be an Indiana Grown member and there’s a process we walk them through to make sure they’re ready and then we’re open for business.”
The service is also free to Indiana Grown members. At present, you’ll find over 100 items available for sale from nearly 40 vendors at shopindianagrown.org.