CHAUMONT, New York (WWNY) – The IGA Express Supermarket closed its doors last year during the pandemic, leaving some residents in Chaumont without a local source of fresh produce.
“That was their lifeline,” said Paul Carr, president of the Lyme Community foundation. “Their lifeline to their food supply and they don’t have the resources to drive to other communities to get their foodstuffs.”
Carr says you could classify the village as a food desert, with the nearest grocery store six miles away.
It’s a problem that Carr and Christine Palumbo, both Lyme Community Foundation board members, have been tackling.
“Where do they get their milk?” asked Palumbo. “Where do they get their food? Where do they get their groceries?”
Community foundation members came up with an idea- a farmer’s market every Friday from 3-7 pm. It’s held on the lawn of the Copley House and provides residents a chance to stock up on essentials for the week. But organizers know it’s a temporary solution.
“The winters up here are tough, so we need to find a solution and so we are reaching out to the community and beyond to see if someone will help us solve this problem,” Palumbo said.
Palumbo says the foundation will run the market into October and hope for the possibility of a new grocer emerging before they have to end the farmer’s market for the season.
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