Community-owned grocery to make site announcement at 1 p.m. today

WILLMAR - The Willmar Community-Owned Grocery will make a site announcement this afternoon.

The formal announcement by the board of directors will take place at 1 p.m. today at 1600 E. Highway 12.

Members of the cooperative and the general public are invited to attend.

Information also will be presented on the next steps for growth of the community-owned grocery and its goals for 2014.

A site committee has been working for the past several months to identify and evaluate potential sites.

Efforts to establish a community-owned grocery and food cooperative have been underway for more than four years. The goal of the organizers is to promote local food, provide opportunities for local growers to market their products and increase consumer access to fresh, locally grown food. The COG officially incorporated in 2010 and currently has 556 member-owners.