Saturday marks the beginning of the third annual Eat Local Challenge at The Community Mercantile, 901 S. Iowa, and this year the challenge is heading out of the store and hitting the streets. Participants in the free program will get a passport that they can fill with stickers Aug. 14-22, whenever they buy local food at participating stores, farmers’ markets, community supported agriculture (CSA) groups and restaurants.

Buy a bit of local produce? Get a sticker. Subscribe to a CSA? Get a sticker. Eat locally grown produce during a night on the town? Get a sticker.

Collect six stickers before the challenge’s Aug. 22 end date and get a T-shirt and an invitation to a special reception featuring live music, local food samples and Free State Brewery beer. The stickers are produced by a new program called Our Local Food Kaw River Valley, a program that will be featured in Monday’s Go! section.

The list of participating food suppliers includes Free State Brewing Co., Pachamama’s, Local Burger, WheatFields, 715, Rolling Prairie Farmers’ Alliance, The West Junior High Garden Project and farmers’ market, Moon on the Meadow farm, Amy’s Meats, Homespun Hill Farm, Mellowfields Urban Farm and the Downtown Lawrence Farmers’ Market.

For more information, or to participate, see the Customer Service desk at the Merc before Saturday.