Kevin Scheuring recalls making his way through this desolate East Cleveland neighborhood for a job that he's long since left. It hasn't changed that much, he says - empty lots full of weeds, condemned apartment buildings. And there's still this big, white warehouse that just blends right in.
Kevin Scheuring: To me, it just looked like another empty building in East Cleveland - something that used to be.
But, when you step inside, you find that this building is very much alive. This Saturday morning, '70s soul music is serenading the shoppers at the Coit Road Farmer's Market in East Cleveland as they inspect tables of fresh fruits, vegetables, and baked goods. Mary Simon has been coming here for years.
Mary Simon: Everything's from the farm, the country, bringing it in fresh. I got up this morning and I know I got to be here at 8:00 before everything gets picked over.
A farmer's cooperative set-up shop on this property in 1932, and the market has survived through some very lean times into the modern era. Kevin Scheuring now manages the operation.
Kevin Scheuring: This market has always been about eating locally, year 'round, and trying to bring the stuff into a neighborhood where it's hard for people to afford it.
That's a fact that hasn't escaped the Cuyahoga County Board of Health. Nutrition specialist Ann Stahlheber sees the market as a key to boosting community health.
Ann Stahlheber: We're talking about the food desert that East Cleveland has, where they don't have good access to a really good grocery stores. They don't have fresh fruits and vegetables at a good price. So, we're really trying to build this up as a way of improving the health of people in East Cleveland.
At the same time, the market also helps support the health of small farmers and other vendors across the Northeast Ohio countryside. Standing behind a table of baked goods, Ivan Bender greets you with a ready smile and the characteristic beard and straw hat favored by the Amish.
Ivan Bender: We have a small bakery at home that we started about a year and a half ago, just to create a little cash flow and, so far, it's been a success.
The advent of mega-farms and the creep of urban sprawl are carving up a once pristine rural landscape. Bender says the developers are even eying his tiny community of Burton.
Ivan Bender: They want to move in… land prices rise… so, it makes it that much harder to buy land to try and farm.
Down at the other end of the market is another vendor selling baked goods. From outward appearances, Willie Muhammad presents a stark contrast to Ivan Bender.
Willie Muhammed: This bean pie is the original pie that we made, from the Nation of Islam. I don't use nothing but natural ingredients. No artificial anything.
But, Willie Muhammad and the other vendors at the Coit Road market are selling something else besides fresh food. It's something that also seems to be in short supply in a world of super-sized grocery stores.
It's a sense of community, where the buyers and the sellers treat each other like family. Erika's working behind the counter at Muhammad's pie stand, this morning, and at one point she impulsively hugs an old customer. His startled face breaks into a smile.
Customer: Oh Lord, I can do the Twist, now.
Board member Tony Matlak says such scenes are common at the Coit Road Farmer's Market, a place that encourages healthy living in more ways than one.
Tony Matlak: You say "East Cleveland", and you think "the drug guys driving up and down the street", and that kind of stuff. That's not the community I know.
David C. Barnett, 90.3.