“Who knows what else we might find,” Dystra says. Behind them in line at the Chai Dhaba stand is Tim Wilkins and his white husky-mix, Luna. Wilkins says he lives just a few blocks away and tries to come to the market as often as possible to catch up with neighbors. Today he is ordering an iced chai as Luna waits patiently to visit with her doggie friends. Chai Dhaba’s Bharat Shah says that chai is, by far, the most popular item on their menu, which includes an assortment of Indian street foods and snacks. He says they have sold about 18 gallons of the sweet, spicy tea each Saturday since they joined the market in 2019. In addition to fresh and prepared food and drink, the market also has live music by local bands most Saturdays. This morning singer-songwriter Corrie Lynn Green and her band perform a blend of folk and Americana music for the shoppers and vendors. On select weekends the market also hosts local community organizations such as the Staunton Public Library. The Staunton Farmers Market got its start in 1993 with just six vendors. Susan and Jim Randall of Elk Run Farm have been at just about every market since that first year. Each week the couple brings boxes of produce, cartons of eggs and coolers of pork and chicken from their Fort Defiance farm to the market. But Susan says that it is the community that keep them coming back year after year.
“We’ve known some of our customer and their families for 25 years,” she says. “We see some of the same people week after week.” Since the early years the market has expanded to include more than two dozen vendors and a Winter Holiday Market that runs through December. Randall says she has noticed that there are more younger people at the market than there used to be and that it has become more of a social scene for the entire community. The market also now accepts SNAP/EBT benefits, making fresh produce available to more people. While the market has diversified to include prepared food and specialized vendors, market manager Rachel Wine notes all vendors are still required to grow or produce their items within 75 miles of Staunton. “We work hard to have something for everyone, while still honoring our mission of supporting local farmers,” Wine says. The Staunton Farmers Market (stauntonfarmersmarket.org) is held in the Wharf Parking Lot on Johnson Street in Staunton on Saturdays from 8 a.m.-noon from April until the Saturday before Thanksgiving. Project Grows, a nonprofit educational farm in Verona, also runs a farmers market in Constitution Park in Waynesboro on Saturdays from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. from May through October. Project Grows also hosts a variety of popup markets that are listed on their website: projectgrows.org/market-schedule. For a map of markets, farm stands and other local food sources (including food pantries) in the Shenandoah Valley and beyond, visit the Food Map of the Valley (www.tinyurl.com/VAFoodMap), developed by Augusta County resident Olivia Hathaway earlier this year. <
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