View from the trail. Courtesy of Third Street Brewing Co.
Third Street Brewing Company A Melting Pot for Farmville By Steve Deason
T
he birth of Third Street Brewing Company is a tale with five viewpoints. One might say beer brought the five founders together but then you would be missing the other star of the show, the town of Farmville. As its name suggests, Farmville has long been the center of a farming community. The town is located on the Appomattox River which supplied power and water for many factories there long ago. Those factory buildings now house the enormous selection of the Green Front Furniture Company which attracts buyers from Richmond, Charlottesville, and Lynchburg; all of which are within 65 miles. Hampton-Sydney College was founded there in 1775 and Longwood University in 1839. John Dudley, Director of Social Media at HamptonSydney College and a Third Street co-founder, believes that Farmville is going through a renaissance. Dudley points to two events as catalysts for the recent business growth. In 2001, there was a fire at Longwood which forced students to find housing in town. In 2012, the High Bridge Trail State Park was completed. The 31-mile trail was an old rail line that ran through Farmville with the namesake bridge crossing the river there. The park added hiking and trail riding to the popular river based recreational attractions in the heart
of Farmville. The bridge and the town also attract those interested in the final days of the Civil War. Dudley met co-founder Keith Rider over four years ago. Rider is a chemist by trade and home brewer by passion according to Dudley. The two agreed that it would be wonderful to have a brewery in town and started doing some research. Co-founder Chris Sadler is the president of a company that manages commercial real estate assets. He moved to Farmville to be nearer the Richmond based company and found that the town really didn’t have much to offer socially. He too decided a brewery would be a good addition to the town and when he discovered Dudley and Rider were agitating for the same, they joined forces. The team started looking for a location and additional investors. Meanwhile, Mark Kernohan and his wife moved to Farmville from Ohio for her new job. Kernohan was looking for work and a way to engage with the community when he met Darin Foor from Loose Shoe Brewery and decided to open his own brewery. Local professionals introduced him to Sadler and he joined on as co-founder and general manager. The fifth cofounder Gary Elder is a local attorney. Third Street Brewer David Steeves grew up in
third street brewing • 312 W 3rd St, Farmville • thirdstreetebrewing.com - 40 -
DECEMBER 2017