Highland Farmers’ Market Has New Manager

For the first time in nearly a decade, the Highland Farmers’ Market will open under new management. Of course, the market is still a program of the newly renovated Highland Center, and will still be at the same location and times, but a new face will be greeting vendors and customers in 2016. Bath County resident Lorraine McCune has taken over coordination and management of the market, and she explained more about herself and what we can expect in the upcoming season.

“My name is Lorraine McCune, and I’m new to the Farmers’ Market position. I live in Bath County, but I’ve come up to Highland over the years for various things. I am retired from the Forest Service, and happy to be here now helping out with the Farmers’ Market.

“I’ve been with the Bath County Farmers’ Market, both as a vendor and as a volunteer manager. I’ve been a produce vendor full time for two years, and also a manager – there’s a team of managers there, and I’ve been one of the team for the last two years, and this year as well.

“The Highland Farmers’ Market opens in less than two weeks, on May 27^th. It’s going to be on Friday afternoons, as usual, from 3:30 to 6:00, and it runs through September 23^rd. This year, we’re going to have all the good local products that customers have come to rely on – the produce, fruits, vegetables, baked goods, meat, honey, syrup and more. We’re doing a little bit different with themes – we’ve changed some of them around, and we’re having a “food of the week”, kind of a featured food each week. It will be something that’s in season and we’ll have demonstrations of how to prepare that food, different ways to use it, and recipes as well.

“We will have the SNAP program this year, which people who receive SNAP benefits can bring their card down, and we’ll process it, and you can use those SNAP benefits on the  regular things that you can buy like at the store, like produce, baked goods. So it’s a good way to get healthy food on the table, using your benefits.

She noted that community members who want to become a part of the market are always welcome.

“(We’re) trying to get more people involved with the market this year. We would love to have volunteers, in a number of different ways. We’re looking for volunteers to come and provide information on Highland County to tourists and visitors. We’re looking for people who are interested in working with children, to do children’s’ activities, and also help vendors with their set-up and breakdown, and provide music. It’s a great place to be on a Friday afternoon, a fun place to hang out, and we’d love to have more people come and get involved.”

For more information, contact Ms. McCune at 540-468-1922 or email farmersmarket@htcnet.org.