Food Area Application Letter
December 10, 2004
Dear Prospective Food Vendor,
Enclosed is an application pack for a Food Booth at the 2005 Common Ground Country Fair. The dates for this year's Fair are September 23, 24 & 25.
This packet consists of:
- application form (PDF Format - 132Kb);
- food ingredients forms (Excel Format - 132Kb);
- Food Area electricity form;
- Food Area guidelines;
- MOFGA-certified organic food growers list;
- Food Vendors Calendar; and
- Bureau of Health type I, II or III definition;
This is the second year of the Food Committee, this committee reviews the applications, and makes recommends Food Area policies to the Fair Steering Committee and handles logistics in the Food Area during the Fair weekend. We are happy to help you with any questions you may have filling in the Food Forms
Please read the Food Area guidelines carefully. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact the office or a Food Committee Member. Please be aware that chages have been made to the Guidelines in recent years. Pay special attention to Paragraph 5 which states in part. "any ingredients not from Maine including herbs and spices, must be third-party certified organic." MOFGA and the Steering Committee want to provide support for food vendors and growers. Based on your application, we will be notifying the suppliers you have listed that you have included them as a potential source for ingredients at the Fair. WE encourage you to have a written agreement with your suppliers. Again feel free to ask for help.
Please start thinking about the appropriate contacts that you will need to make to secure organic, Maine-grown ingredients for your food items. Although we do not require vendors to have contractual agreements with growers, we strongly encourage this type of arrangement. The contracts really help vendors and farmers plan and avoid misunderstandings. The Fair office will send out Food Seller/Buyer contract forms to accepted food vendors in January. Don't forget the Bureau of Health as you start to work up your ideas for the Fair. Their contact information is Dept of Human Services, Eating & Lodging Program, 161 Capital St.,11 State House Station, Augusta, ME 04333-0010, 287-5671 Fax: 287-3165
If you have any difficulty determining sources for your ingredients, please don't hesitate to contact MOFGA's Technical Services Staff, Eric Sideman and Diane Schivera. Eric works from his home so you can reach him at 946-4402 or esideman@mofga.org. Diane is in the MOFGA office in Unity at 568-4142 or dianes@mofga.org. You also can find a wealth of information about organic food sources on MOFGA's website -- www.mofga.org. with a wonderfully searchable list at www.mainefoods.net/mofga/certstart.php. Martha Putnam, MOFGA Board member, has also expressed an interest in helping Food Vendors link with growers. You may contact her at 775-6922 or putnammartha@yahoo.com.
Some food vendors regularly have more than one booth. One application is required for each booth. If you need more copies of any of the forms listed above, please call the Fair office for more. You also may obtain additional copies by downloading them from MOFGA's website -- www.mofga.org. If you are hoping to have a "non-corner" booth, please be sure to indicate how much depth you will need for your food preparation area. This will help us in planning the overall layout of Food Area booths. We do not charge for depth of non-corner booths.
The application deadline for food booths this year is January 7, 2005. Please make sure that your application form, food ingredients form, and electricity form are postmarked by that date.
Looking forward to hearing from you soon.
Sincerely,
Common Ground Country Fair Food Committee
Eric Rector
Betsy Hart
Richard Morgan
Francis Walker
Shlomit Auciello
Liz Baldwin
Bill Whitman
Barbara Luce, MOFGA Staff
Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (MOFGA)
Common Ground Country Fair
PO Box 170
Unity, ME 04988
Phone: 207-568-4142
Fax: 207-568-4141
Email: cgcf@mofga.org