Hannah Gant ’03 - Hartford’s market master

By Emily Groff

In 2007, Billings Forge Community Works, a nonprofit organization that focuses on improving Hartford’s Frog Hollow neighborhood, was trying to start a farmers’ market at its housing complex on Broad Street. At the same time, Hannah Gant, Class of 2003, had returned to Connecticut and was looking for a job as an advocate in the agricultural industry. Through her connections at Trinity—including Charles A. Dana Professor of History Joan Hedrick and Director of Community Service and Civic Engagement Joe Barber—Gant heard about the Billings Forge initiative and applied to lead it.

Today, Gant lives and works in Hartford as the market master at the Farmers’ Market at Billings Forge. The market is open on Mondays and Thursdays from May through October and offers fresh fruits, vegetables, eggs, and meat from Connecticut farms and bread, jam, and soap made by local artisans. It also provides a forum for area nonprofit groups. The Thursday market, which has doubled since opening last year, is the largest farmers’ market in Hartford.

Gant, who promotes food security, food access, and food justice, is working to grow the market as a connecting force in the community. The market enables residents of Frog Hollow to connect with farmers and artisans, talk to producers, learn more about their food, and gain awareness of food production. It also brings people who work downtown, but who live elsewhere, across Capitol Avenue and into the neighborhood. Gant hopes the market can be a place where people who work in Hartford and those who live in the city can sit and enjoy lunch or listen to music together. As Gant notes, “Everyone eats.”