2023 Open Air Market Season Open: (June 1st – October 26th)
Visitors and community members alike can mingle at our ‘open-air market’ while shopping for fresh produce, crafts, and baked goods made or grown with care by local and regional farmers and artisans. The Hopewell Farmers Market is committed to connecting our community to fresh produce and nutrition education, to celebrating local farmers and makers, and to making Downtown Hopewell a more vibrant, prosperous, and healthy place for all to enjoy. We hope that you will become a part of our weekly market family!
When and Where: Thursday evenings from 5:00 -7:00pm on Library St in Downtown Hopewell
Parking: There is street parking available as well as a large public parking lot next to the Library (209 E Cawson St)
Healthy Incentives: SNAP/EBT accepted; Virginia Fresh Match incentives offered
Contact Us: You can reach our Manager, Tisha Sawyer, at (804)446-1055 or hopewellfarmersmarket@gmail.com.
Follow along: 
Hopewell Farmers Market
DOWNTOWN HOPEWELL
Tisha Sawyer, a proud Navy Veteran, hails from the west coast but fell in love with Virginia when she moved here in 2004 to work as a chef at the Williamsburg Inn. Her professional experience also includes linguistics, teaching, administration, retail, and hospitality, as well as small business entrepreneurship. In addition to her love of all things Farm-to-Table, this Foodie enjoys gardening, farming, food preservation, cheesemaking, and all manner of crafting. When not devoting herself to her work, she can be found tinkering on her tiny house on wheels, creating all manner of handmade items, or traveling to new and exciting places.
Our Rotating Vendors
FRESH PRODUCE & AG
- Field of Dreams Farm/SAMM (veggies, fruit, goat milk soaps)
- M&M Organic Veggies (unique jams, salsas, pickles, pickled items, fresh veggies)
- Montpelier Farm (veggies, fruit, dried herbs, eggs)
- Mosby’s Waterloo (farm raised poultry)
- Sparrowhurst Farm (farm-grown fresh cut flowers)
- Willows Bend Farm (medicinal herbs, teas, oils)
EATS & FOOD TRUCKS
- Baked! (cinnamon rolls, artisan breads, pastries, fresh squeezed limeade)
- Baker’s Popped Delights (artisan popcorn)
- JJ King’s Secret Sauce (rubs, award-winning sauces)
- Maitland Sweet Shop (fudge, artisan candy)
- Pangeon Granola (creative mixes just for you)
- Raices Puerto Rican Cuisine (delicious)
- Roxie’s Good Hands (fried chicken, burgers, hot dogs)
- St. Elpies Ladies Auxiliary (handmade greek pastries)
CLOTHING, GIFTS, HOMEWARE
- Design Originals (handcrafted jewelry and gifts)
- Glaze Leather (handmade wallets, drink slings, and more)
- JimMar Art (paintings, macrame)
- Lucy Lu’s Mobile Boutique (clothing, accessories, gifts)
- Savage Candle (handmade candles, body scrubs, soaps)
- Thrifty Upcycled (vintage homeware and clothing)
*Don’t forget to visit Downtown Hopewell’s “brick and mortar” producers and artisan shops – Artisan Alley, Crystal Luna Company, Downtown Pups, Guncotton Coffee, Haley’s Honey Meadery, Legacy Roasting, and the Gardener’s Gate while you are in town!
The Hopewell Farmers Market proudly partners with Virginia Fresh Match (VFM). You can use your EBT card at our market and get half off on fruits and vegetables from participating vendors. Check in at the Hopewell Farmers Market tent and we will guide you through the process!
Virginia Fresh Match (VFM) is a network of farmers markets and food stores across Virginia that offer nutrition incentives. VFM nutrition incentives double the value of federal nutrition benefits like SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, food stamps) spent at participating farmers markets and food stores. With Virginia Fresh Match, low-income consumers can afford additional healthy food, local farmers gain new customers and make more money, and more food dollars stay in the local economy. Learn more here: https://vfm.leapforlocalfood.org/
What should you expect at our 2022 markets?
All farmers and business owners can protect employees and customers by encouraging them to sanitize and wash their hands frequently, be conscious of physical distancing, and following state COVID-19 safety measures and mandates. Expanding current safety practices can help slow the disease spread in the community and reduce working days lost due to illness.
Low Touch
Please point at what you wish to purchase and let the vendor bag your items for you, when possible.
Social Distancing
Remember to be considerate of maintaining six-feet of distance between yourself and others attending the market. We encourage you to wear a mask if you are not vaccinated, even for this open-air market.
Hand Sanitizer
We provide hand sanitizer at our check-in desk, compliments of Bon Secours Southside Medical Center.
The Hopewell Farmers Market has taken many forms over the years and is still evolving. Our story began when the Hopewell Downtown Partnership (HDP) coordinated a Fall Harvest Festival in 2014. This event tested the Hopewell community’s interest in outdoor market events and the response was overwhelming. HDP launched an outdoor farmers market in downtown Hopewell that following spring. With the help of numerous volunteers from the community and the HDP Board, the Hopewell Farmers Market ran every Saturday from May until September in 2015 on East Broadway, one of Hopewell’s historic main streets.
In 2016, the Hopewell Farmers Market relocated for a time to the former Copeland School site near City Park and the waterfront. Eventually, the market migrated back to E Broadway with the birth of the popular “Third Thursdays” events which featured vendors of all sorts, drinks, food, and live music.
In 2017, HDP requested assistance from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) through the Local Foods, Local Places program to develop an action plan for promoting local food systems and healthy, walkable, economically vibrant communities. The Local Foods, Local Places program is supported by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Delta Regional Authority. Hopewell was one of 16 communities across the United States selected to participate in the program in 2018. This team published the official Community Report with the Hopewell Downtown Partnership in November of 2018. The goals of the Local Foods, Local Places program are to create:
- More economic opportunities for local farmers and businesses.
- Better access to healthy, local food, especially among disadvantaged groups.
- Revitalized downtowns, main streets, and neighborhoods.
Guncotton Coffee and Art Gallery became the face of the Hopewell Farmers Market and hosted a monthly, indoor, market with select vendors. The Hopewell Downtown Partnership relaunched the market in 2020 in the ever-changing conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic. HDP hosted a socially distanced “Mini Market” Pop-Up on August 27th offering pre-packaged bundles at a set-price for pick-up. We have also been working behind the scenes to build this e-commerce page for the market which will enable vendors to showcase their wares online and customers to purchase items from their favorite vendors in advance of the market.
If the story of the Hopewell Farmers Market has taught us anything, it is that we are not afraid to re-make ourselves in an effort to fit the needs of our community and the ever-changing world around us. We are committed to connecting our community to fresh produce, to celebrating local farmers and makers, and to making downtown Hopewell a more vibrant, prosperous and healthy place for all to enjoy. We hope that you will join us at future markets and become a part of the Hopewell Farmers Market family!
– Heather Lyne
