Farmers Markets within the Blue Ridge Region, join markets across the country in celebrating National Farmers Market Week from August 3-9, 2025. Farmers markets across the Blue Ridge region are working together to uplift, support, and collaborate in order to better support local farmers, improve local access to fresh food, and foster a thriving local food community. Join in on National Farmers Market Week by visiting your local farmers market (and others nearby) for a variety of fresh food, activities, live music, and more.
Farmers markets create spaces where community members gather around shared values and are able to directly support and connect with local farmers. Together, customers, farmers, and organizations that operate farmers markets create a more fair and sustainable food system. This community focus has been most visible during recent times of crisis and uncertainty as market managers innovate to continue essential operations for the farmers and shoppers who depend on them.
“The impact of farmers markets to me — I like supporting the local economy. I like eating fresh, local, organic food. I like knowing who my farmers are and where my food is coming from, and eating that kind of food helps support my body and my health. And this is such a great place to be on a saturday, or a wednesday, or a tuesday!” —Customer, LEAP’s Grandin Village Farmers Market
Many of the markets in the Blue Ridge Region offer programs like Virginia Fresh Match (VFM) to help low-income families afford fresh, local produce. VFM provides a dollar-for-dollar match on fruits and vegetables for customers who rely on SNAP/EBT. This helps more people shop at farmers markets, reducing food insecurity and increasing sales for local farmers. In 2024, VFM reported $2M in SNAP and VFM sales supporting over 1200 Virginia farmers. Other local food incentive programs include matches on WIC and Medicaid, as well as senior vouchers, kids incentives like POP Club, and more. These vital programs enable farmers markets in our region to make fresh food more affordable, while keeping food dollars local—a win for all.
“These innovative match programs make healthy food truly accessible.The double match for SNAP/EBT and WIC recipients . . . are a lifeline for many families. These programs allow families like mine to stretch our budgets while supporting local farmers and producers.” – Customer, LEAP’s West End Farmers Market
The Blue Ridge Region Farmers Markets, supported by the Virginia Association of Farmers Markets (VAFMA), includes farmers markets from Lynchburg to Roanoke and Salem, Floyd County, Pulaski, and Montgomery County to Pearisburg. These markets have been working collaboratively since 2009. While each farmers market is unique, the Blue Ridge Region Farmers Markets work together to celebrate and support each other in collective efforts to build community around local food. The 20+ farmers markets in this region currently host farmers selling a wide variety of products, including orchard fruits, vegetable farms, eggs, and a variety of locally raised meats. The region’s mountainous landscape boasts a diversity of both small and medium-sized farms as well as farmers markets. Farmers markets provide meaningful ways for these smaller farms with limited capacity to build and grow their customer base and enhance the viability of their business.
“[Selling at the market] is vital to my business especially because I’m such a tiny farm—I call it a farmlet—I can bring everything I grow here and sell it directly to the customer. For a farm my size, selling at the market can create a livelihood that’s enough for me and my family.” —Kat the Farmer, Blacksburg Farmers Market
While other locations may have a single market that serves a larger area or otherwise compete for attention, the Blue Ridge Region has taken a collaborative approach. Having a diverse landscape of farmers markets that work together enables our region to work with and support more farmers, provide more opportunities for farmers to sell at market, and to meet the unique needs of the region’s diverse communities. Market managers convene quarterly to discuss their markets, coordinate around special programming, support new and growing vendors, and share knowledge and resources.
“Working with the other markets in the area is invaluable to me. You have all these different challenges that can come up and you don’t have to take on that challenge alone.” – Dorothy McIntyre, Forest Farmers Market. “It’s a great way to collaborate with other markets in terms of sharing success stories about food access programs at our markets and also getting feedback about challenges that we face, whether it’s regarding vendors, food safety questions, things like that. Sharing our experiences helps make all of our markets successful.” – Salem Farmers Market Manager, Isaac Campbell
National Farmers Market Week is an annual celebration of farmers markets proclaimed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and coordinated by the Farmers Market Coalition (FMC). Each year, FMC’s National Farmers Market Week Campaign highlights the vital role farmers markets play within our nation’s local food systems.
“Across the country, farmers markets are defining their role in our communities,” said Willa Sheikh, Executive Director of the Farmers Market Coalition. “Markets are designed in partnership with the people they serve and are a place where market operators, farmers, shoppers, and neighbors can collaborate to meet the evolving needs of their community. As we look to the future, farmers markets will play a key part, as they always have, in leading efforts to adapt, respond, innovate, and advocate for our local food systems. National Farmers Market Week is a chance to celebrate all the ways farmers markets show up for us!”
Farmers markets in the Blue Ridge Region operate at various days and times, many of them year-round. To learn more about and visit a farmers markets near you, visit https://vafma.org/virginia-markets and vote for your favorite via American Farmland Trust market at https://markets.farmland.org.
About Blue Ridge Region Farmers Markets
The Blue Ridge Region of farmers markets includes Lynchburg to Roanoke, Floyd County, Pulaski, and Montgomery County to Pearisburg. The Blue Ridge Region has a diverse array of products available from local farms. Most producers fall in the small to medium sized operations, and we have both century farms and farms that have been established in the past few years. The Blue Ridge is rich in orchard fruits, vegetable farms, eggs, and a variety of locally raised meats can be found at markets throughout the region. Farmers Market Managers in this area are supported by the Blue Ridge Farmers Market Manager Group that meets several times per year to discuss their markets, collaborate on programming, and celebrate their successful season in the Blue Ridge.
This press release and associated content was produced in collaboration with Local Environmental Agriculture Project (LEAP–Grandin Village Farmers Market and West End Farmers Market), Blacksburg Farmers Market, Salem Farmers Market, Forest Farmers Market, Floyd Farmers Market, Lynchburg Farmers Market, and Vinton Farmers Market, with support from Virginia Fresh Match (VFM), Virginia Farmers Markets Association (VAFMA), and Roanoke Foodshed Network (RFN). The Blue Ridge Region Farmers Market Managers group is open to all farmers markets managers in the region. Interested market managers can reach out to director@blacksburgfarmersmarket.org for more information.
Additional video testimonials from farmers, market managers, and customers, as well as photos and interviews with market managers are available upon request.
