Bath County Farmers Market looking for vendors

 

The Bath County Farmers Market is gearing up for it’s 2014 season with a new location and a new management team.  Beth Rogers is the manager of the Bath County Farmers Market.

“We are going to be downtown again,” says Rogers. “We’re hoping to be in the grassy park area where the old Homestead stables were.  We have gotten the Planning Commission’s approval and we still need to go before the Zoning Appeals Board.”

Rogers co-managed the market for several years with Mary Hodges.  Hodges has stepped down from that role and will now help as a volunteer and consultant.  A new management team will assist Rogers with various market duties.

“We have three other women who are helping manage the market with me,” says Rogers.  “Debrena Gordon who is a vendor,  she was one of the original vendors when the market first started.  She’s going to be taking care of some of our social media and marketing things.  She’s also the person for vendors to go to if they have questions about rules and regulations of the market.   And we have Lorraine McCune, who is also one of our past vendors. She was the pumpkin lady.  And she is going to be expanding her offerings this year, in addition to helping manage the market. She’s going to be responsible for the financial part of the market.  Then we have Maureen Kane, who is from Covington.  And she has offered to help us be a liaison for the vendors and help support them in their businesses.  And also work on a healthy community healthy eating program, so she wants to bring an educational component to the market.”

The Bath County Farmers Market is held Saturdays from 9 to 1, June 7 through the end of September.

“We are a producer only market,” says Rogers.  “So anything that you’re growing, baking, making yourself you can bring to the market.  We also encourage artisan vendors.  Anything that’s handcrafted we would love to include in the market as well. But we do give priority to food vendors, you know, produce, meat, anything that’s home grown or home produced.”

During the season there are seventeen markets.  The full season rate for vendors is $75.  There’s a fee of $10 per market for vendors who can’t commit to the entire season.  Rogers is looking for new vendors for the market.

“The farmers market has really become a wonderful gathering spot on Saturday mornings for the community,” says Rogers.  “There’s such a great feel.  We try to have live music every Saturday. We have our children’s program.  And people do come and see other neighbors.  And they spend not just their shopping time, but people have lunch with Puff’s Barbecue and hang out.  We’d love to have more local people come and do their weekly shopping there, at least start it at the market.  In addition to produce, we’ll have beef, lamb and pork at the market this year. We have fresh eggs, we have honey.  And some of our food vendors have added greenhouses, so we should have some produce earlier in the season than we’ve had before.”

For more information you can call Beth Rogers at 540-839-6644

Story By

Bonnie Ralston

Bonnie Ralston is the Assistant Station Coordinator at WVLS and a Highland County news reporter. She began volunteering at Allegheny Mountain Radio in the fall of 2005. In 2006 she became an AMR employee and worked in Bath County for eight years as the WCHG Station Coordinator and then as the news reporter there. She began working in radio while in college and has stayed connected to radio, in one way or another, for more than thirty years. She grew up in Staunton, Virginia, while spending a lot of time on her family’s farm in Deerfield, Virginia. She enjoys spending time outside, watching old TV shows and movies and tending to her chickens.

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