Madison Park

1. All food swap participants are required to sign a release of liability form onsite and agree to adhere to the highest level of food safety and cleanliness outlined here for general food items and herefor canned foods.  
2. Food swap participants will provide an item for swap that is locally-grown, includes locally-grown ingredients, enhances sustainability and/or is created from recycled materials. Alcoholic beverages are not permitted for swap. Click here for a list of suggested swap items
3. In order to bid on swap items, you must have an item to swap. :-)
4. All swappers will complete a bid sheet for detailing ingredients and accepting bids. Swappers are encouraged to display and offer samples of food products for guests to try. Bid Sheet

How it works:

1. Arrival: Upon arrival you will be greeted by a host who will assist you with set up. You will display your product and complete a bid sheet for each product available for bid.     
   
    
2. Sampling, mingling, and bidding: Each swapper will display samples for edible items or body products for guest to try. Once all items are displayed and bid sheets completed, the host will welcome the crowd and provide instructions. Once questions have been answered, the host will tell everyone
   to begin walking around the room, checking out what everyone has brought to the swap and to begin making bids. 
   
   Each swap sheet works like a silent auction bid sheet, except you are not bound to or required to swap for items on your sheet.    
   
       
3. Reviewing bids: The host will reconvene the group and instruct swappers to review their bids. Swappers will find those who were interested in their items or those whose items they desire. In most cases, swaps are one-to-one --meaning that one jar of strawberry jam is worth one bushel of herbs or one bag of leafy greens.        
   
    
4. Swapping: Guest begin to swap items and beg for that delectable banana bread that they tasted, which they can not leave without!    
   
       
5. Wrap Up: As the swapping winds down, guest begin to load their items into reusable bags, baskets and boxes. Best of all, you just met a few new friends with excellent culinary and sustainable taste!

The concept originated from the common food swap, an event where members of a community share homemade, homegrown, or foraged foods with each other. We are including sustainable goods, as we recognize that creativity abounds among sustainability advocates to use recycled materials to create awesome good. Swaps allow direct trades to take place between attendees, e.g., a loaf of bread for a jar of pickles or a half-dozen backyard eggs. These events are a delicious and environmentally-friendly way to diversify the homemade foods in your own pantry while getting to know members of your local food community.