The state of Illinois is encouraging citizens to use $10 of your weekly food budget, and find your local farmers market, and spend it there.

The Clinton Area Farmers and Artisans Market has been encouraging Clinton and DeWitt County residents to do this for a while now. Elizabeth Burns with the Market says the goal is to keep the money local because some of that money will be reinvested locally.

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Burns points out there are many vendors at the Market who travel longer distances, who might take time to spend their money in the Clinton and DeWitt County area. She says you taking time to spend money at the farmers market directly impacts those vendors and keeps them coming back.

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The farmers market also has great resources for using the produce they sell. Burns says whether your meals are centered around the produce you pick up at the market, or if you are looking for ways to incorporate fruits and vegetables into your meal planning, she says they have some great recipe books on hand to use as guides, in fact, a local store on the square has incorporated one of the recipes Burns pointed out to them on their menu.

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Burns says if everyone spent $10 a week locally, it would turn into $2.15-billion into the economy.

The farmers market runs between 8 am and noon on the downtown Clinton Square each Saturday, then from 1 pm to 2pm at the Clinton high rise.