Since its creation, Birmingham’s local food supplier Freshfully has made waves among area locovores.

It was originally only a website, acting as a go-between for local farmers and Birmingham residents who were tired of having to trek out to a farmer’s market at 8 a.m. on a Saturday to pick up some locally grown produce.

Freshfully, the company that recently brought fresh produce to Avondale, will celebrate its first anniversary on Aug. 3 & 4. Photo of owners Sam Brasseale and Jen Barnett by David Garrett.

Instead, all Birmingham’s foodies had to do was go online, select what they wanted from which farmers and arrange a pickup somewhere in town. It was an elegant, if not altogether efficient, solution to the problem of how to get people to eat more local food.

Earlier this summer, Freshfully opened up their first brick-and-mortar store front in the increasingly popular neighborhood of Avondale. The store was, to say the least, a wild success. Within a couple of weeks, Freshfully had reached their sales goals for their first month and exploded into mainstream awareness after a flurry of media attention.

What’s incredible is that, for all of their current success, Freshfully is barely a year old. In fact, the company will celebrate its first birthday this Friday and Saturday, August 3 and 4, at the store in Avondale.

Some of the fresh produce available at the Freshfully storefront in Avondale. Photo by David Garrett.

For any who still haven’t made the Freshfully plunge, there will be plenty of samples from local farmers and other producers to introduce you to the wonderful world of local food.

These will include samples of cherry tomatoes from Hepzibah Farms, shrimp from Greene Prairie Aquafarm, catfish from Stone Oak Farm, goat cheese from Bulger Creek Farm, Gulf shrimp from Swimming Last Night, slices of pound cake from Just Julia, sweet potato pie from Jawanda, meat and vegetable samples from Will & Laurie Moore, and popsicles on sale from Steel City Pops.

Musical entertainment will be provided by Friday on My Mind.

Even after all their success, Freshfully isn’t sitting on their laurels. In a recent Weld Local article, founder Jen Barnett mentioned plans for expansion. “Probably this year, we’ll plan to go into at least two other cities,” Barnett said. Looking back their incredible first year, the future looks bright for Freshfully.

Freshfully is located at 200 41st South. For store hours and more information, call (205) 983-6456 or visit www.freshfully.com