Pocono News Section

Lewisburg Local Night Out

Lewisburg Local Night Out - Friday, September 19, 2008 at 5:25PM EST

Reported by: Jeremy Deebel
Friday, Sep 19, 2008 @ 05:25pm EST
Lewisburg, Union County-

A first-of-its-kind event is being held in Central Pennsylvania tonight, and the purpose is supporting local farmers.

It's an all-local menu for several restaurants in Lewisburg. They'll be dishing up meals made with locally grown ingredients.

It's all part of Lewisburg's first ever "Local Night Out." Purcell's Irish Pub is just one of many participating restaurants.

Co-Owner Lois Purcell explained, "It's very important to keep them growing and thriving in our agricultural area for healthy food for our customers and ourselves, and to support the rural community."

Across the street from Purcell's, the Susquehanna Valley Growers Market is held every Friday from May through October, for those who like to cook their own local cuisine.

Steve Forman, of Beaver Run Farms, noted, "There's a lot of great food grown in this area, and unfortunately we ship a whole lot of food all around the country with expensive diesel fuel, that I don't think has the quality of the stuff you'll see here today."

The Local Night Out is sponsored by the Valleys of the Susquehanna Buy Fresh Buy Local program. Five percent of each restaurant's proceeds will go to the program, which promotes support for local growers.

Restaurant owners here say buying from local farmers is an investment in our future.

Purcell added, "As a small business owner, we try to support other small businesses, and small family farms are the original small business, so we're really happy to be able to support them in this way."