le terroir of Youngstown ... city-produced and foraged foods to be highlighted Thursday

Exciting steps are being taken in the Mahoning Valley to further strengthen the relationships between local growers and local restaurants.

The Lake2River Food Cooperative is getting off the ground, to be established at Youngstown's food business incubator on the north side.

This Thursday, May 19th at 6pm, there will be a culinary feast at the First Unitarian Universalist Church near Wick Park, with proceeds going to the start-up funding needs of the food cooperative.

Along with some beer and wine, the $35 ticket will present a menu prepared by local chefs, with all dishes incorporating local seasonal grown and foraged foods. (includes gluten-free and raw vegan options)

CHECK OUT THIS MENU >>>>

With the exception of the olives, dates and chocolate in the menu below, ALL of the food at the event will be produced/raised/foraged from within the City of Youngstown and surrounding counties.

You can taste on Thursday night:
- kimchi dumplings
- grilled local May asparagus
- watercress soup shooters with crème fraiche
- fresh spring rolls with ohio carrots and radishes
- bruschetta with mushrooms (Morel mushrooms foraged in Youngstown's Idora neighborhood, Oyster and Shiitake mushrooms grown near pittsburgh, and ramps/wild garlic foraged in Columbiana county)
- charcuterie of 5 varied meats: including duck, salami, copa, lomo ... all cured in pittsburgh
- ohio apples, pennsylvania blue cheese and cheddar
- Lucky Penny goat cheese
- Fresh chèvre with medjool dates
- Miller's Farm grass-fed sirloin skewers
- Tofu skewers
- Lamppost Farm's chicken, in indian-spiced lettuce wraps
- strawberry rhubarb squares
- chocolate farmed and produced in Madagascar
- jasmine tea with ice cubes embedded with foraged violets

Welcome to the food culture of Youngstown!


tickets can be rsvp'ed from 2 sources:

Adam Lee
adamlee49 (at) gmail (dot) com

Pat Rosenthal
Common Wealth
phone 330.744.2667 ext 17

by the numbers: Youngstown City Population Stats by Ward, 1980-2010

Since the results of the 2010 Census have come out, stories in the press have centered on the City of Youngstown's shrinking population, now standing at 67,000 residents.

But what about the population figures per ward of the city?

With the recent release of population statistics per census block group and census tract, the populations in each of the city's seven wards in 2010 is available as well.

Here's the compiled data for each of Wards 1 to 7 in 1980, 1990, 2000 and 2010:


For each of those years, the geographic boundaries of the wards have not changed.

Here is a graph of the raw data, showing the population per ward over those thirty years:


Over that same time period, here is the change in the ratio of each ward's population compared to the entire City of Youngstown's population.



some interesting observations from the data:

- Youngstown's (city) population has declined 42% from 115,500 in 1980 to 67,000 in 2010.

- Losing the most population from 1980 to 2010 are the First Wards and the Sixth Wards, both having more than 50% losses.

- Losing the least population from 1980 to 2010 are the Fourth Wards and the Seventh Wards, both having less than 30% losses.

- The least populous ward in 1980 had more people than the most populous ward in 2000.

- Similarly, the least populous ward in 1990 had more people than the most populous ward in 2010.

- In 2010 the Sixth Ward contained 10.8% of the city's population. In 2010, the Fourth Ward contained 18.1% of the city's population. This is getting close to a 2:1 ratio of residents inside each ward when comparing the two jurisdictions.

The conclusion:

Each ward in the city is losing population, but the rate of change per ward has created substantial population inequalities between them.