The Lynchburg Community Market...
For Best of Locally Grown Food and Crafts

Thanks in part to the Community Market, Lynchburg, Virginia is a healthy place to live.

Yes, the organic and locally grown food movement has taken hold and is one of the best benefits of living is this historic city.

The old city market has evolved into an important part of Lynchburg's character and tradition.

Locals enjoy coming out on a Saturday morning to socialize, people-watch, buy their weekly supply of fresh fruit and veggies and meet the craftsmen.

You won't find any corporate farmed food here, in fact the local produce vendors have taken the pledge. The Green Market Pledge simply states that:

"...every single item on my table is grown, baked or made by me or my family. Ask me anything, I promise full disclosure as to my methods of growing or creating my product".

It doesn't guarantee that the produce is organic, meaning free of pesticides or chemical fertilizers, but ask the sellers, they will tell you.

Wednesday at the community market is organic day.

The "Wednesday Growers" use low or no spray, pick their fruit and vegetables when ripe and fresh and organic is the norm. There is no "green harvested" produce sold here.

Photo right: Saturday morning shoppers at the produce stalls

The centerpiece of the outdoor section of the market is the well known Dolphin Fountain.

Photo below: The famous Dolphin Fountain at the Market

The fountain has quite a history behind it that most residents are unaware of. Lynchburg's Monument Terrace was built between 1924 and 1925 and one of it's main features was an elegant dolphin fountain and ornamental basin resting on bronze turtles.

The following year, in 1926, the distinctive fountain was replaced by Charles Keck's statue, the "Listening Post". For the next 50 years the fountain sat in storage gathering dust.

Photo right: The Dolphin Fountain commemorative plaque

The fountain was discovered by the Womans Club of Lynchburg, brought out of storage, and made into the well-known centerpiece of the community market.

The plaque commemorates the city's bicentennial and says,

The Lynchburg Community Market was established in 1783, making it one of the oldest indoor food and craft markets in the country.

The historic armory building has become home to the community market and craft center which has expanded to fill the entire first story of the building.

Administratively, the market is managed by the city's Parks and Recreation Department and operates six days a week.

Even though there is a high demand for locally grown and produced products, the city still subsidizes the market. The community residents want good, healthy foods, and the city is doing its part to make it as economically successful as possible.

As reported by Emily Salomon, Assistant Project Manager, at the International/City/County Management Association (ICMA), 2004 was an important year for the community market.

Realizing the importance of the market to the vitalization of the downtown area, the city partnered with Project for Public Spaces, a non-profit group, and launched a study to examine ways to strengthen the market.

A number of recommendations were made and a grant was obtained to implement them. The study suggested certain redesigns of the interior market areas, improvements to the outdoor market square and recruitment of more participating area farmers.

Farmers are critical to the success of the community market. Not only sheer numbers of vendors but the quality of their food products and crafts is vital to keep customers coming.

A popular feature of the market is the close contact with the growers and the ability to ask questions, visit and learn something about the food we eat.

Photo above: Local farmers selling under the "Virginia Grows" banners

On the other side, it must be a profitable undertaking for the farmers in order to entice them to load up their trucks, leave the farm in the middle of the night and be ready for business on Saturday and Wednesday mornings.

To assist in the market's long-term viability, the Parks and Recreation Department partnered with Lynchburg Grows, an urban farm and nonprofit organization, to be one of the anchors of the market. Link to Lynchburg Grows to see how they contribute to the health and feeding of the city.

Walk through the door of the community market and be greeted by three rows of artists and craftsmen separated by two wide aisles that comprise the Heritage Crafters Gallery. Also, be sure to bring your appetite since there are meals to please every taste.

The community market kitchens feature breakfast all day at Barb's Dreamhut, kabobs and stir fry at Philippine Delight, homestyle comfort food courtesy of Irene's Country Cooking, and good healthy choices at the Fresh Market Cafe. Before leaving, stop by Lorranine Bakery for their European style baked goods to stock your pantry.

The gallery features working heritage artists and Virginia-made handcrafts and is open on a daily basis. The variety of crafts represented is quite remarkable and include yarn spinning, wood turners and carvers, hand-made pottery, knitted goods and doll clothes, homemade pies and cakes, jewelry, paper cutting and much more.

Stroll down the first aisle of the crafters gallery some Saturday morning and you are likely to encounter Dawn Hollick spinning yarn from the wool of their sheep and goats, alpaca and llamas.

Spinning the yarn is actually the final step of the process that starts with shearing, then scouring, drying, separating, carding, roving then the spinning.

Visit the Pair-a-Dice Farm owned by Dawn and husband Joe on line at their website http://www.pairadicefarm.com/home.html and learn what all those terms mean that lead to such beautiful yarn. See the animals shown on their website? Meat from those animals can be purchased at the community market as well.

Typically over 25 artists are represented although their presence varies from day to day.

In addition to the Heritage Gallery there are six local food service establishments in the community market. There is no excuse for leaving the community market hungry.

Go down to the end of the first aisle, turn the corner and walk up the middle aisle.

Keep an eye out for Bruce Mayberry and his display of wooden bowls, tuned out by hand on his lathe.

Photo: Bruce Mayberry, wood turner par excellance

Mr. Mayberry has been in the woodworking business for 65 years and from the quality of his work, his DNA must be part wood fiber.

The wood that Bruce uses in his creations is cut from trees on his property and air dried for two years. After carefully assessing the characteristics of each piece of wood, he decides exactly what one-of-a-kind creation will emerge from the lathe.

Take your time and examine the finely crafted wood at the Bruce Mayberry stall and you just may find something that you can't live without. It happens all the time.

Continue along the aisle and visit Doris Cann, master knitter, at WeeCann. You can't miss the dolls all gussied up in Doris's creations. She makes incredible doll clothes and all types of knitted goods.

Photo below: Doris Cann of Wee Cann; a well known knit crafter at the Heritage Gallery

Take note of all the dolls in the photo and look at the outfits they are wearing. All those doll clothes were hand crafted by Doris and a huge selection is always available at the Gallery.

How about dessert?

If you like fantastic home baked pies and cakes, be sure to stop and chat with Linda Elam and take one of her awesome cakes or pies home for dinner.

Her apple pie is hard to beat and the variety of cakes are pure temptation. Check out her one-of-a-kind cinnamon cake.

Her beaming smile, pleasant personality and love for people has made her a favorite at the community market. Of course the baked goods have a lot to do with it too.

Photo below: Linda Elam with a small selection of her baked goods

Another featured artist in the Heritage Crafters Gallery is Charlotte Barber Wiley who turns out some of the most beautiful pottery to be found anywhere.

Take a look at the intricate creations on the shelves at Charlotte's display area. The combinations of colors and shapes reflect the best of the potters art. Charlotte's talented fingers create true miracles from clay.

If you're lucky, you might get to meet Charlotte's helper, Tabitha.

Photos: Charlotte Wiley pottery creations (above) and her occasional helper, Tabitha (right)

The market is located at 1219 Main Street in the heart of downtown Lynchburg; the intersection is Main and 12th Street. Just look for the big sign on the corner and a lot of excited people heading for the produce stalls.

Parking is available in a lot just behind the food vendor stalls, along the street, in several spots across 12th street and a small lot just down the hill on Main Street. It is best to come early.

For visitors to Lynchburg, the Lynchburg Visitors Center is just a short walk up the hill on 12th Street.

The Lynchburg Community Market is located at an interesting stretch long Main street. Across the street from the community market are numerous interesting book sellers, Inklings for example, and many other great places to browse.

Stop in the Farmers Feed and Supply Store at 1306 Main Street and look around and don't miss the antique mall on the corner. Getting hungry? In addition to the great food shops in the market, one could walk up Main Street and try the Hash House.

Photo: Large, hard-to-miss community market sign at the corner of Main and 12th. A sign of great food and crafts and activities.

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