Mill City Farmers Market hosts fall harvest dinner Sunday

Alan Turkus via Flickr.com

Now celebrating squash season

Mill City Farmers Market hosts its Fall Harvest Dinner on Sunday, a celebration of fall foods and farmers and a fundraiser for the nonprofit market. We spoke with Marjorie Hegstrom, director of the Mill City Farmers Market, to find out more about the featured foods and festivities for diners.

Nick Schneider and Heather Hartmann of Spoonriver, who also teach weekly on-site cooking demos at the market, will prepare the dinner.

The dinner will draw from farms that sell at the market, using smoked trout from Star Prairie Trout Farm, apples from Sweetland Orchard, wild rice from Northern Lakes Wild Rice and garlic from Swede Lake Farms, to name a few.

Music will be provided by Light of the Moon, an old-timey band featuring upright bass, mandolin, accordion, and a handful of other instruments. They're a popular fixture at local food festivities; this summer, they've performed at the Mill City Farmers Market, a Tour de Farm dinner at Tangletown Farm, and the Minnesota Garlic Festival.

The dinner also features a live auction, where participants can win brunch with The Current's Mark Wheat, a farmers market dinner at the home of Mary K. Baumann and Will Hopkins in the Mill District or a week's stay in Park City, Utah.

The dinner, which starts at 4:30 p.m., has space for 150 diners, and tickets are $100. More information is available on the Mill City Farmers Market website.