In 2010, the tiny team of volunteers who had successfully launched Grandin Village Farmers Market made a commitment to open a second farmers market. This time it would not be located in an economically well-off neighborhood. It would be across the bridge, in a shuttered Italian restaurant, next door to a beloved after-school center. West End Farmers Market would be held on a weekday evening, when neighbors could swing by as they got off work and picked up their kids.

In the 14 years since, this market has moved three times, and sometimes struggled to find the right combination of farmers and customers. There were years when only one or two vendors set up in the small space behind Freedom First Credit Union’s branch. And when only a trickle of dedicated customers showed up.

Despite the challenges, West End Farmers Market never shut down. Not during construction. Not during winters. Not during the craziness of the COVID pandemic. Week after week, year after year, farmers trucked local, seasonal vegetables into the West End neighborhood so that families could find fresh produce for their tables. Because everyone deserves good food.

Today, West End Farmers Market is a thriving community, with an average of seven vendors each week and a steady stream of customers from the neighborhood and beyond. Families, especially, gravitate to this market that now pops up in the field beside The LEAP Hub at 1027 Patterson Ave.

Only at West End Farmers Markets, all kids (ages 2-17) get $5 to spend on fruits and vegetables. A volunteer regularly gathers children in a circle to hear stories. Monthly, Roanoke City Public Libraries gives away free children’s books. Often, a kids’ activity tent offers coloring pages and scavenger hunts and recipe tastings. Customers head home at the end of their shop, bags heavy with cucumbers, lettuces, tomatoes, eggs, loaves of bread, apples, and perhaps a jar of honey or salsa.

‍This October, LEAP is reaching out to highlight some of the hard, unseen work that makes our farmers markets successful. We want you to understand why we ask for donations every fall and why your giving is essential to LEAP’s work.

‍First, let’s talk about consistent growth. For 15 years, LEAP has been supporting local farmers and increasing access to local food. The number of markets we manage has grown slowly and steadily from the first summer at Grandin Village, to West End’s year round market. In 2015, LEAP added a Mobile Market to bring fresh local food to a wide variety of underserved neighborhoods. This year we opened the LEAP Community Store to increase hours and convenience of local food for everyone, and especially for the West End community. Every new market creates opportunities for fresh food to reach more people and new potential for farmers to increase their sales and income. Every new market also requires planning, staff, and maintenance.

‍Foundational to everything we do is our commitment to food access. At LEAP farmers markets, purchases by SNAP, Medicaid, and WIC customers are all doubled. This requires a complicated system of wooden tokens that must be purchased, coded (black for SNAP, yellow for Medicaid and WIC, red for match), given out, explained to customers and vendors, collected from vendors, then counted and documented. Checks are then sent to vendors to pay them for token sales. Each week, hours of work are dedicated to this process. (See the video here!) But without it, farmers would lose important income and customers would not be able to afford nutritious fruits and vegetables.

‍We believe in community relationships. LEAP has worked in partnerships from its beginnings. When we moved to The LEAP Hub, we significantly increased our community outreach efforts. For the last year-and-a-half, a team of LEAP staff, consultants, and neighborhood leaders has knocked on doors, showed up at neighborhood events, and partnered with volunteer efforts to let the West End community know about our local food offerings and to hear their feedback as to how we could best serve them.

All of this takes resources. It takes people and supplies and time to have conversations. All of it costs money. This month, we set our fundraising goal to $15,000, in honor of the 15 years we have been supporting access to local food in Roanoke.

Is supporting LEAP's farmers markets important to you? Are you able to make a donation?

Donations can be made online; sent by mail to PO Box 3249, Roanoke, VA 24015; or dropped off at The LEAP Hub (1027 Patterson Ave.) anytime Monday through Friday between 10 am and 4 pm.

Questions? Reach Communications Manager Christina Nifong at christina@leapforlocalfood.org or 540-632-1657.

Thank you for your generous support.