A $1.2 million culinary education center planned for Fromer Market Gardens in Tannersville broke ground April 29, launching a project meant to train local students and adults in agriculture, hospitality, and food service.
The Fromer Market Gardens Culinary Hub, a joint project of the Hunter Foundation and Cornell Cooperative Extension of Columbia and Greene Counties, is expected to open by spring 2027. About 20 people gathered at the site last week for the groundbreaking, where participants donned hard hats and lifted shovels at the small certified organic farm near Hunter-Tannersville High School.
The hub will include a commercial teaching kitchen, certificate programs, and space for local food makers to use when classes are not in session, according to organizers.
“What I think is the most exciting part is that this is taking this vision Sean [Mahoney, Hunter Town Supervisor] had, to teach the local kids real skills, including how to grow food, and it builds resiliency in the community. All of the educators [who will be involved] will have very high level skills to impart,” said Lisa Gallina, executive director of Cornell Cooperative Extension of Columbia and Greene Counties.
Cornell Cooperative Extension is developing the curriculum and will offer certificates in agriculture, culinary skills, and hospitality skills after eight-week courses, Gallina said. The first classes will be free to local eighth graders, with future programs planned for high school students and adults.
One of the project’s goals is to help train a local workforce in a town whose economy depends heavily on restaurants, tourism, and the ski industry.
“In 2015, we [the Hunter Foundation] started operating Fromer Market Gardens. Along the way we realized that there is a huge need for hospitality and culinary education in our town. We have a number of restaurants who are looking for employees,” said Hunter Town Supervisor and Executive Director of the Hunter Foundation Sean Mahoney.
Mahoney said the hub will give the town a place to teach “best practices, knife skills, food handling” and other skills needed in local kitchens and restaurants.
The kitchen will also be available to local makers when classes are not being held.
“When the kitchen is not being used for classes, it can be used for local makers,” Mahoney said. “If someone wants to come and make jam, make chocolate, we can schedule that.”
The space could also be used for pop-up events, organizers said.
Fromer Market Gardens operates on less than 1 acre set back from Route 23A, also known as Main Street, next to Hunter-Tannersville High School. The farm includes shiitake mushroom production, honeybees, chickens, and a farmstand that hosts a year-round Saturday farmers market from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. A Wednesday farmers market runs during warm-weather months, from July through October, during the same hours.
The school already uses the farm as an educational resource, Mahoney said. One high school class designed and built a small footbridge connecting the school and farm properties, while other classes have visited the farm to learn basic agricultural skills.
The culinary hub is expected to expand that relationship and double the size of the farmstand.
Mahoney estimated the project will cost $1.2 million, funded through a mix of federal, state, and private money. Funding includes support from the Tannersville Downtown Revitalization Initiative and a $500,000 grant that Mahoney said U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand helped secure for the project.
“The culinary education is our primary focus,” Mahoney said.
Gallina said Cornell Cooperative Extension, a statewide non-degree program of Cornell University, will help connect the future culinary school with local producers. She said the program could also connect in some way with Taste NY, the state’s local food and beverage program, including its store at the Capital Region Welcome Center near Albany.
Lex Sottile is a contributing writer. Send correspondence to reporting@theoverlooknews.com.