Market’s Growth Poses Challenges
Expansion Talk Byproduct Of Success
Posted: February 26, 2013
HARRISONBURG — When Samuel Johnson started selling produce in the bottom level of the Water Street parking deck, going home $80 richer meant a good day.
That was nearly 34 years ago, and while it was about $250 in today’s dollars, it was nothing like the kind of money growers today make, Johnson said Thursday from his Hickory Hill Farm in Keezletown, where his family continues to grow fruit and vegetables to sell at the market.
Johnson said he can remember about four vendors showing up on average that first season of the Harrisonburg Farmers Market, in 1979.
“It was a good beginning but it was really very modest,” he said.
Now, several of the roughly 60 vendors at any given summer Saturday market make their living off of market sales. Annual total vendor sales have jumped from about $620,000 in 2009 to roughly $1.15 million last year.
Although Johnson started the market, served as its manager for about 12 years and has never missed a season selling there, he still can’t believe how much
it has grown.
“When I stop to think about what the market’s become,” he said, listing its positive qualities — a dedicated facility, good location, strong customer base, high-quality products, abundance of vendors — “it still amazes me. Even though I watched it happen over the years, it amazes me.”
The market is bursting at the seams.
It’s grown from those four original vendors to about 70 total, only about 60 of whom can sell at any one market.
They’ve been selling at the place the market has called home since 2008, the $300,000 Turner Pavilion. Local growers have started setting up camp on the pavilion’s south side, and with the municipal parking lot taking up the space in the opposite side, the market literally has nowhere else to go.
“We really were pretty much at capacity at the peak of [last] summer,” Showalter said. “It was really tight.”
Market officials had to start turning away potential vendors in the last few years. Showalter will occasionally turn away specialty vendors, such as coffee roasters, to make sure supply does not exceed demand for those items, but she’s also had to deny eight to 10 non-specialty vendors space in recent years, she said.
In addition to not being able to bring on many new faces, several problems have intensified due to the growth.
The market’s board of directors voted in July to ban dogs completely from the market starting Jan. 1, partly because of its growth.
In addition, the lack of permanent bathrooms — a need identified when Turner Pavilion was built — and an adequate storage facility have become more problematic recently, she said.
A proposed urban park could take care of those issues, but it may be awhile before it materializes.
Harrisonburg Downtown Renaissance has yet to send out requests for proposals from design firms, according to Executive Director Eddie Bumbaugh.
“At this point, design firms haven’t been notified,” he said. “We decided that that would be premature. We do intend to move forward at some point in the future.”
He said the project is still on the table and the market is still included in those plans.
In 2009, City Council endorsed HDR’s proposal for improvements on the lawn adjacent to Turner Pavilion, subject to private funding being raised. The plans included a stage and restrooms, as well as space for possible expansion of the farmers market. While city officials estimated at the time that the project would cost roughly $215,000, that amount did not include costs for market expansion. An amphitheater was proposed for the site in 2011 but the idea fizzled in the wake of a lukewarm reception from the city.
Despite some issues that the board of directors is hoping to address, Showalter emphasizes the many positive attributes of the current incarnation of the nearly 34-year-old market.
“We need to get bathrooms before we can do too much more growth,” she said. “[But] it’s great that we need restrooms. … That’s all because of the growth of the market. … I think the intention of the board … is to continue to grow the market but to do it in a thoughtful and intentional way.”
Contact Candace Sipos at 574-6275 or csipos@dnronline.com
That was nearly 34 years ago, and while it was about $250 in today’s dollars, it was nothing like the kind of money growers today make, Johnson said Thursday from his Hickory Hill Farm in Keezletown, where his family continues to grow fruit and vegetables to sell at the market.
Johnson said he can remember about four vendors showing up on average that first season of the Harrisonburg Farmers Market, in 1979.
“It was a good beginning but it was really very modest,” he said.
Now, several of the roughly 60 vendors at any given summer Saturday market make their living off of market sales. Annual total vendor sales have jumped from about $620,000 in 2009 to roughly $1.15 million last year.
Although Johnson started the market, served as its manager for about 12 years and has never missed a season selling there, he still can’t believe how much
it has grown.
“When I stop to think about what the market’s become,” he said, listing its positive qualities — a dedicated facility, good location, strong customer base, high-quality products, abundance of vendors — “it still amazes me. Even though I watched it happen over the years, it amazes me.”
The market is bursting at the seams.
It’s grown from those four original vendors to about 70 total, only about 60 of whom can sell at any one market.
They’ve been selling at the place the market has called home since 2008, the $300,000 Turner Pavilion. Local growers have started setting up camp on the pavilion’s south side, and with the municipal parking lot taking up the space in the opposite side, the market literally has nowhere else to go.
“We really were pretty much at capacity at the peak of [last] summer,” Showalter said. “It was really tight.”
Market officials had to start turning away potential vendors in the last few years. Showalter will occasionally turn away specialty vendors, such as coffee roasters, to make sure supply does not exceed demand for those items, but she’s also had to deny eight to 10 non-specialty vendors space in recent years, she said.
In addition to not being able to bring on many new faces, several problems have intensified due to the growth.
The market’s board of directors voted in July to ban dogs completely from the market starting Jan. 1, partly because of its growth.
In addition, the lack of permanent bathrooms — a need identified when Turner Pavilion was built — and an adequate storage facility have become more problematic recently, she said.
A proposed urban park could take care of those issues, but it may be awhile before it materializes.
Harrisonburg Downtown Renaissance has yet to send out requests for proposals from design firms, according to Executive Director Eddie Bumbaugh.
“At this point, design firms haven’t been notified,” he said. “We decided that that would be premature. We do intend to move forward at some point in the future.”
He said the project is still on the table and the market is still included in those plans.
In 2009, City Council endorsed HDR’s proposal for improvements on the lawn adjacent to Turner Pavilion, subject to private funding being raised. The plans included a stage and restrooms, as well as space for possible expansion of the farmers market. While city officials estimated at the time that the project would cost roughly $215,000, that amount did not include costs for market expansion. An amphitheater was proposed for the site in 2011 but the idea fizzled in the wake of a lukewarm reception from the city.
Despite some issues that the board of directors is hoping to address, Showalter emphasizes the many positive attributes of the current incarnation of the nearly 34-year-old market.
“We need to get bathrooms before we can do too much more growth,” she said. “[But] it’s great that we need restrooms. … That’s all because of the growth of the market. … I think the intention of the board … is to continue to grow the market but to do it in a thoughtful and intentional way.”
Contact Candace Sipos at 574-6275 or csipos@dnronline.com