Staff recommends that the Town of Purcellville rent the property/parking lot on the 20^th Street side of the Bush Tabernacle at 250 Nursery Avenue to the Purcellville Farmers Market starting this April 2021. The market is open Saturdays throughout the year. This will involve entering a license agreement with the Purcellville Farmers Market for a monthly rental fee of $100 along with a $100 annual maintenance fee for a total of $1,300 a year.

Relocating the Purcellville Farmers Market to this space will help draw residents and visitors to the heart of Purcellville where the Town-owned Fireman’s Field, Bush Tabernacle, and Dillon’s Woods are located. This location will provide a larger venue for the market, the market will be more visible and easier to find as it will remain in the same spot all year, it will allow people to walk to the market, and it will give the market opportunities to enhance its offerings.

Over the past few years, Town staff and the Purcellville Farmers Market manager have had conversations about potentially to relocating the market to the parking lot between the Bush Tabernacle and 20^th Street. The Purcellville Farmers Market currently operates either in the parking lot of the Shoppes at Main and Maple or the parking lot behind Walgreens, depending on the time of year.  The need to move the market based on the season presents a variety of challenges that include visibility and lack of consistency for existing and potential patrons. It isn’t easy for pedestrians to access and poses a potential hazard for market patrons who are walking through a busy parking lot.  Additionally, it takes parking spaces away from the businesses at the Shoppes at Main and Maple.

Kelley Partlow, the manager of the Purcellville Farmers Market, envisions the market playing an important role in Purcellville, becoming a valued destination that will attract residents and visitors alike, as her attached letter states. Currently, the Purcellville Farmers Market has approximately 18 to 25 vendors in the spring, summer, and fall months and approximately 5 to 10 vendors in the winter.  We anticipate that the new location will be able to allow the market to increase the number of vendors to 45. The market is open all year. Mrs. Partlow hopes that the new location will revitalize the market by attracting even more vendors and shoppers.

Our shared vision is to make the Purcellville Farmers Market the Saturday morning destination for residents and visitors to shop for local food and goods, eat, enjoy music, visit the local park, and connect with friends and neighbors in the community.  The location is convenient for people who would like to walk, ride bikes, or take transit. New sidewalks in the area improve accessibility and safety. The parking lot itself does not serve multiple businesses and is easy to block from either side, which will also improve safety. It is a quiet spot, making it suitable for acoustic musicians. It would attract more people to the heart of Purcellville and the parks located there.  After visiting the market, people could walk to Dillon’s Woods to enjoy a picnic, go to Fireman’s Field to watch a ball game, go roller skating, and even stop at other shops and restaurants in Town on their way back home.

Having the market at this location will benefit the market, provide residents with an enjoyable weekly experience, encourage people from surrounding towns to visit, and highlight Dillon’s Woods, Fireman’s Field, and the Bush Tabernacle.

If the Town does not proceed, we will miss a wonderful opportunity to partner with the Purcellville Farmers Market to help build a sense of community and feature local farmers, producers, restaurants, artists, and musicians.

The annual revenue generated by this action will be $1,300, which includes the monthly rental of $100 and a one-time maintenance fee of $100 to cover the cost of signage for the parking lot, the use of Town cones to mark off areas in the parking lot that will be closed, and to provide trash and recycling receptacles which will be emptied by the Purcellville Farmers Market management. 

I move that the Purcellville Town Council approve the proposed Purcellville Farmers Market License Agreement and authorize the Town Manager to execute the agreement, annual renewals, and all future amendments to the agreement as deemed prudent by the Town Manager, on behalf of the Town of Purcellville.