By Pam Dudding
Craig and surrounding counties are known for their exceptional gardening abilities. Recently, there has been discussion on how to help citizens “market” their vegetables and fruits. Carol Grippo, president of the board at the Newport Recreation Center, saw an interest on Facebook about a farmer’s market for Newport. She quickly responded, taking the idea to the next board meeting.
“It was agreed that we would facilitate a market, so I posted invitations to our April meeting on every Giles County page I could find on Facebook,” Grippo shared. “Several people showed up and were very excited.”
The next step taken was for them to introduce the idea and get permission from their county executive, Chris McKlarney. “He and John Ross, our zoning official, both felt it was a great idea,” Grippo said excitedly. “I met with John Ross, Cora Gnegy, our tourism and economic development official, and Perry Martin, Newport’s member of the Board of Supervisors on April 19.” They were given the “go ahead” to start planning.
Since, they have also chosen to include people in Craig County as well, and welcome them to the next meeting, to get their input. They hope to make this a larger event, maybe even to include more than food, but it will all be up to the people who participate. Ideas are welcome!
They will meet on May 2 at 7 p.m. in the library at the Newport Community Center and meetings thereafter will be the first Monday of each month.
“There are two main goals for this farmer’s market for our communities,” Grippo shared. “One is to make this an event to look forward to and enjoy and the second is to give our community a place close to home to shop so if someone doesn’t want to go to Blacksburg they don’t have to.”
The May meeting will be their first true meeting as the April meeting was meant to determine if there would be enough interest to move forward. For more information, you may contact Carol Grippo at [email protected] or message her on Facebook.
She added, “Anyone who is interested in helping us get this market started or to sell at the market is welcome to attend the meetings.”