Come to Mercado Esperanza, May 20

The second Mercado Esperanza of the season will bring food, art and music to Joyce Kilmer Park (143 Joyce Kilmer Ave.) in New Brunswick from noon to 6 p.m., Sunday, May 20.

The Mercado features vendors and local entrepreneurs, artists and musicians. It is operated collaboratively by Elijah’s Promise, New Brunswick Tomorrow and coLAB Arts with funding from a Kresge Foundation FreshLo Grant and the New Jersey Office of Faith-Based Initiatives. This outdoor marketplace promotes economic development and other community goals, using food as a creative platform for neighborhood revitalization. It is being held monthly at the park during the spring and summer.

With the mission of incubating small food and merchant businesses, the Mercado connects residents to commercial kitchens and culinary expertise at the Promise Culinary School and also offers a venue for culinary students and graduates to develop their own small food businesses. The project brings Rising Tide Capital’s Community Business Academy (CBA) to New Brunswick to offer its entrepreneurial training program in Spanish and English to New Brunswick residents, culinary students, and Mercado vendors. For more information, go to https://www.risingtidecap

Future dates of the Mercado are June 17, July 15 and Aug. 19.

For more information about the Mercado Esperanza and other programs of Elijah’s Promise, go to https://test.elijahspromise.org/promise-programs/.