When shoppers flock to local farmers markets this weekend, laden with bags bursting of berries and squash of all shapes and sizes, they will be taking part in Virginia Farmers Market Week.
Proclaimed by Gov. Terry McAuliffe, the week started Sunday and runs through the prime time for markets this weekend.
In his proclamation, the governor notes markets have increased in number and popularity over the years throughout the commonwealth. Of the more than 200 markets across the state, the Historic Triangle boasts three regular markets, all of which have sprung up in the past 15 years.
Williamsburg Farmers Market
The oldest of the local markets, the Williamsburg Farmers Market was born from the minds of Tom Austin and Tom Powers – of Berrets Seafood Restaurant and The Cheese Shop, respectively – looking for a shopping destination to rival ones they had visited in Europe. They hungered for fresh produce for their restaurants and for private purchasing.
Through the support of the City of Williamsburg, Merchants Square and Colonial Williamsburg, their dream became a reality within a year. The market opened on Fourth of July weekend in 2002, in Merchants Square on Duke of Gloucester Street, with about 14 total vendors.
Tracy Herner, the market manager since 2011, credits the vision behind the project as the reason it has continued to more than 40 sellers every Saturday morning. While some might think a farmers market does not require more in the way of foresight, she said it, like any business, needs proper planning to have a chance to succeed.
Herner has the task of maintaining a strict ratio of products, to ensure a variety of goods customers can feast on with their eyes or taste buds. That blend – with about 65 percent produce, 11 to 15 percent baked goods and the rest a mix of crafts and other food – is fixed and keeps the market being flooded with one crop.
So that shoppers see tomatoes next to handmade soaps next to goat cheese, Herner creates a market map for each week’s vendors.
“It wouldn’t be a great way for a farmer to do very well if they’re next to three lines of produce,” she said. “The average person wouldn’t be able to tell the difference just based on sight.”
Herner also works with potential vendors — all of whom come from Virginia, one as far as Nelson County — to help groom them to be ready to handle the bustling Williamsburg crowd. Although the produce farms are small and local, they have to be able to support the 1,200 customers who flock to Merchants Square in the morning.
“You don’t want to sell out by 8:15,” Herner said.
Once they are on board, the vendors tend to become regulars at the market. Some, like Amy’s Garden and Aromas coffeehouse, have stuck around since the first market 12 years ago.
Although Herner noted every market is different, and she encourages residents to visit as many as they can, she said the fun community atmosphere sets this one apart. Encouraged to maintain its spot spreading the city block, she said the music, vendors and chef’s tents bring a flurry of activity to the heart of downtown.
People have started using it as a meeting place, whether to do their shopping or enjoy the local dog population, and Herner guarantees locals will run into someone they know.
“It’s a melting pot of our community and it’s all focused around something that you can feel good about buying,” she said.
The market has tried to increase its outreach in the last years. In 2013 it started to accept SNAP, a state food assistance program, and offers to match up to $20 of those benefits for use at the market.
“Anything that we can do to get fresh local food in the hands of those who need it most is a good thing,” Herner said.
The Williamsburg Famers Market runs from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. every Saturday through Nov. 29, followed by a few winter markets throughout the colder months.
Click here to learn more and see the list of vendors for this week.
Toano Farmers Market
When a piece of land across the street from the James City Bruton Volunteer Fire Department in Toano about four years ago, a few ideas were bounced around for the space, including a car wash. The department eventually settled on a farmers market, but one open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, year-round.
“We just felt that it was fair to the public because some of the money used to buy that [land] was from donations,” said Robert Jones, one of the volunteer members who oversees the market along with Billy Apperson. “So we just felt it was better to keep that open and let people come and go as they please.”
Vendors can come and go as they please, and are asked to abide by the honor system, giving the department 10 percent of their earnings at the market, not to exceed $25.
They require that sellers grow their own produce or buy them from a farmer who did, and any non-edible goods must be handmade. Come the holiday season, the department sells Christmas trees.
Jones said the quality of the produce keeps guests, most of them local but some passing through the region, coming back week after week. While he keeps an eye out for anything that does not look fresh enough to pass inspection, he said most of the items are up for sale the same day they were picked.
Most of the vendors are from the Historic Triangle and surrounding towns, but Jones is never sure who might show up to sell.
No matter their origin, he said the vendors share a “down to home” quality that makes them pleasant to work with and a mark of market success.
The other day, Jones watched a vendor give a shopper a cantaloupe.
“’Take it home and eat it,’” he recalls the farmer telling the patron. “If they like it, come back and pay for it. They came back.”
For more information, contact the James City Bruton Volunteer Fire Department.
Yorktown Market Days
Don Willis said the stars aligned for the start of a farmers market in Yorktown. He applied for the position of market manager eight years ago when the project got started, bringing a background in event planning and appreciation for the markets he and his wife visited in traveling the country.
“I think there was a lot of synergy from a lot of different angles,” Willis said of bringing the venture to Yorktown. “The county wanted to do one, Riverwalk Landing wanted to be the place, so there was a lot of talk about that.”
The market started as an every-other-week operation, but an evaluation at the end of the first season showed vendors and the public wanted it to be a regular event. Now it kicks off the second Saturday in May and runs weekly through the end of October.
Willis remembers having to beg to drum up as many as 14 vendors for the first market. Now between food sellers and artists, he has between 40 and 50 on any given day.
All are required to make, grow, catch or cook their offerings, with just a few exceptions. He works to ensure successful selling by keeping a variety of foods for customers to peruse.
“We’re very much into the keep it local, Virginia-grown philosophy,” Willis said, adding that knowing where goods are coming from means consumers know they are fresh or produced in a sanitary way.
The market can move into the parking garage in case of poor weather, but Willis feels the spot on Riverwalk Landing is second to none.
“We’re right there on the river,” he said. “Even on a hot day, a breeze off the river makes it a little cooler.”
With a mix of vendors at a waterside setting, the market is a perfect family atmosphere, Willis said. There is entertainment every week and usually a chef’s demonstration, in addition to a fall festival market in October with a pumpkin patch, hay maze and hay rides for children.
After guests were clamoring for more autumnal fun at the close of the first October event, Willis learned to extend the hours for that and the holiday markets, one each in November and December. Those run from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The regular markets start at 8 a.m. and close at noon. For more information, visit the York County website.