About

John Rife, johnrife@gmail.com

John Rife Pointing

John is a founding partner of A Local Folkus and the owner of East End Market, a food enterprise incubator and event space opening Fall 2012 in Audubon Park.  He is a commercial real estate developer by trade and biologist / digital media maven by education.  Over the past five years, Rife has grown into a passionate advocate for Central Florida’s burgeoning local food scene.  In 2010 he founded the annual Winter Park Harvest Festival and serves on the boards of Slow Food Orlando, Edible Magazine and many other civic organizations.

Like Wendell Berry, Rife believes that “eating is an agricultural act” and that raising the awareness of the average consumer, to the means of their food production and procurement, is the most expeditious path to revolutionizing America’s industrial food system.  Through numerous festivals, food events, farmers markets, urban farms and this blog, A Local Folkus seeks to do just that.

Gabriela Othon Lothrop, gabbyothon@gmail.com

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Gabby is a founding partner at A Local Folkus and comes to the company with experience in event planning and execution. Her work at A Local Folkus fuels a passion for helping to connect the various stakeholders in the Central Florida food system to create a thriving local food economy. She became deeply involved in the Central Florida local food scene when she took on the role of Director for the Audubon Park Community Market in 2009.  In addition to organizing and running this weekly local food gathering, Gabby serves as the Market Manager for the Winter Park Harvest Festival and the Winter Garden Harvest Festival. In Fall 2012, she will take on the role of Director at the East End Market in Audubon Park.  She currently serves as the co-Chair of the board for Slow Food Orlando and has volunteered at numerous events and fundraisers.

Previously, she worked as a Program and Research Coordinator at the University of Central Florida’s Global Perspectives Office. She is a UCF graduate, with a B.A. in Political Science/International Relations. Gabby is a native of Panama and has gained much of her appreciation for food through her extensive travel throughout the U.S., Latin America and Europe.

Heather Grove, heather.r.grove@gmail.com

IMG_6190_2Heather, A Local Folkus’ Communications Director, is a recent graduate from Stetson University, where she earned a B.A. in Environmental Science and a B.S. in Geography. Over the past five years, she has worked with farmers and gardeners throughout North and Central America. Learning sustainable farming methods throughout her travels, she applied her experiences in co-founding Stetson’s Community Garden and Farmers Market, interning with the USDA’s Natural Resource Conservation Service, and designing a Sustainable Agriculture Initiative with Honduran pepper growers.

A life-long learner, she hopes to share her experiences with Central Floridians and the greater global community as she explores the promising future of local food systems. She believes that “just as food is the source of one’s energy, happy and healthy humans are the fuel for flourishing communities.” To her, A Local Folkus is about supporting local economies, and moreover engaging our neighbors and friends in this exciting movement to establish a place of community in the space of Central FL!