“No one goes to Whole Foods to hang out, but maybe they will at the farmers market.” That’s the plan, says Nony Dutton, behind the newest market from FreshFarm Market, the nonprofit cultivating some of the area’s biggest collections of farmers and producers.
It was a year and a half ago when the Rosslyn Business Improvement District reached out to FreshFarm, which already runs markets in Ballston and Crystal City (and D.C. and Maryland), to bring vendors to the high-end, mixed-use Central Place.
Across from the Metro on the newly built plaza, the late-afternoon market will start small with about a half-dozen vendors, mixing the essentials of fruits, vegetables, bread, meat and cheese with a few indulgences, which will help turn this from a shopping situation to more of a party. They include freshly shucked oysters and wine sold by the bottle, with tables available for lingering and sipping.
The food comes from Black Rock Orchard, Hillside Meadow Farm, Loblolly Organic Farm and Atwaters, whose owner, Ned Atwater, took advantage of FreshFarm’s professional development funding and now complements his bread business by also making cheeses.
Up next, says Dutton: “Recruit someone that has pickles.” // FreshFarm Rosslyn: May 17-Sept. 27, 4-8 p.m.
(May 2017)
