AKRON, Ohio — With a focus on revitalizing homes in the Middlebury neighborhood, Akron’s Well Community Development Corporation’s Millstone Market will aptly showcase what’s made in the kitchen this weekend.
The Millstone Market of Middlebury, from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday, June 19, will allow the community to sample edible creations by entrepreneurs who participate in Akron Food Works, the Well’s shared-use commercial kitchen at 647 E. Market St.
Those interested in making a living in the food industry can rent time in the kitchen, attend food business boot camps or volunteer to share knowledge with other entrepreneurs, the Well’s Executive Director Zac Kohl said. The Well also helps aspiring business owners track down food-based funding and connect to retailers with shelf space for their products.
The goal of establishing a 2,100 square foot certified commercial kitchen was to remove the barriers entrepreneurs face when starting a small food business, Kohl said. Those participating in the kitchen range from businesses that are up and operational but don’t require a public location to chefs testing their recipes and preparing to open restaurants or food trucks.
Saturday’s market is the first event the Well has held to showcase a sampling of the 47 food entrepreneurs who rent the commercial kitchen.
Gluten-free bagels from Akron Bagel Babes; seasonings, rubs and mixes from Julia Belle’s; pies from Picket Fences Bakery and others will be available to sample during the free event. Local craft vendors will also be on site.
If the event is well attended, more will follow, said Kohl.
“It’s a reason for people to come to Middlebury, not just go through Middlebury, so we would encourage everyone to come by and check it out,” Kohl said.
The Millstone Market will also serve as an open house for the Well’s Community Tool Library, where more than 500 tools are available for rental.
For $50 a year, with discounted memberships available, any Summit County resident can become a member.
The Well’s tool library helps homeowners maintain their houses (courtesy of the Well)
Kohl said members could access power and hand tools, from rakes to professional plumbing snakes.
The library is intended to make home improvement projects feasible, enabling residents to maintain their own houses. For example, with a library membership, DIYers can rent a plumbing bucket of tools containing everything needed to work on sinks, drains and bathtubs, Kohl said.
Home improvement workshops are held throughout the year and offer everything from putting down a laminate floor to handling simple electrical updates. Home winterization and gardening classes are offered, too.
“Our home maintenance classes and our tool library kind of go hand-in-hand where we’re encouraging people’s ability to own their own homes,” Kohl said.
Middlebury is Akron’s oldest neighborhood, and with the housing stock composed of many century homes, being able to perform ongoing maintenance is vital.
Priced at $10 or less, the home maintenance classes target many of the specific skills someone would need when working on one of Akron’s decades-old houses.
“Dealing with plaster and lathe is different than dealing with drywall,” Kohl said.
Kohl and some partners established The Well in 2016 in the massive former Presbyterian church he grew up in, making homeownership a main focus for the CDC.
A top goal was to improve the 40% owner occupancy rate in Middlebury then, putting ownership back into the hands of his neighbors through the city’s first “place-based” community development corporation.
The Well opened Compass Coffee, a shop and event space, in 2017. Designed for locals, Compass Coffee enables people to gather through community dinners and other events and is a way to create a sense of place for Middlebury residents.
The coffee shop is also intended to help strengthen the local economy, another of the CDC’s primary objectives.
On Saturday, the Millstone Market will observe public health guidelines with physical distancing and extra sanitization.
