The River Street Market will open May 6 in the parking lot adjacent to the Farmers Market Restaurant & Bar in Old Towne Petersburg.
Saturday mornings are, for some people, a time to get up early and head to their favorite farmers markets to see what fresh produce and other tempting items the vendors are offering. On May 6, the three-person team behind the new River Street Market is hoping those temptations will lure shoppers to the Old Towne section of Petersburg.
The market will kick off with about 20 vendors offering everything from produce and sausage to jewelry and artwork.
“We’ve got so much more to offer” than other area farmers markets, says Richard Cuthbert, a Petersburg lawyer who is a driving force behind the new market. The nearby shops and restaurants in Old Towne make the market a destination where you could spend the entire day exploring the area, he says, adding that the market could be “a real catalyst to the community.”
The Old Towne area was home to a farmers market that closed in 2015, Cuthbert says. That market had grown to about 30 regular vendors, even though it was never advertised aggressively.
At a community meeting in October 2015, the city’s economic development office announced that the market, which had been located beneath the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Bridge near Union Station, was being relocated to East Washington Street.
“The city decided to try to move it to a more central location,” says Kimberly Ann Calos, owner of Petersburg Pickers. But vendors weren’t happy with the move and other changes being made by the city, and the market ended up closing.
Cuthbert says Petersburg needed someone to bring back a farmers market, so he decided to be that person.
“It was tantalizing from a new market perspective,” Cuthbert says, adding that the hope for River Street Market is that it will surpass the previous market in size.
Cuthbert’s family has a long history in Petersburg. His grandfather was born and raised in the city, and Richard and his father, Charles, have a law practice on Sycamore Street and have rehabilitated a couple of downtown buildings.
Cuthbert started working on the market project last year with Mari Hardenbergh and Silvia Johnson as River Street Market LLC. Hardenbergh, chief operations officer of Commonwealth Attorney Marketing Service (CAMS), has handled the branding, and Johnson, a broker at Long and Foster real estate and a yoga instructor, has been the marketing manager.
Once they got involved, the market became a team project, Cuthbert says. “I handled the game plan, and they are executing it.”
The River Street Market team consists of (from left) Mari Hardenbergh, Richard Cuthbert and Silvia Johnson. (Photo courtesy Richard Cuthbert)
They didn’t get approval from the city for River Street Market until February, so the three have been scrambling to get everything in place for the May opening.
“I was committed and scared, and that scared commitment is what pushed me forward,” Cuthbert says.
“It was a big challenge” getting the first vendors. He says the partners called vendors who were regulars at the previous market and offered them space for a year for free. They have commitments from more than a half dozen of those vendors. He also looked at the vendor list for the Hopewell market, which was transitioning to part time, and contacted them.
Rachel Chieppa of Disputanta, who makes handcrafted artisan soaps under the name The Daily Scrub, was the first vendor to sign on for the River Street Market.
“We were so excited to be part of the new market,” says Chieppa, who was a vendor in the former market for about nine years.
She says she kept hoping a farmers market would come back to Petersburg.
“It was a wonderful Saturday morning social time for people,” Chieppa says of the previous market.
“It is such a plus for Petersburg to have a market,” she says. “We hope people will come back to the market and support it.”
Calos says anything green makes her happy, so making that available every Saturday is “very exciting.”
The River Street Market will be in the parking lot across from the Farmers Market Restaurant & Bar. Alexander C. “Sandy” Graham Jr., the principal owner of the restaurant, says he’s been encouraging the market to move back to that location.
“It creates a lot of foot traffic in the area, which is great,” he says. Also, the restaurant will be buying from the market vendors.
Although the River Street Market is just getting started, the team behind it is already working on a five-year plan: 75 vendors and possibly a winter market. They also are working on partnerships for some healthy eating initiatives.
“We are excited,” Johnson says. “Nervous and excited.”
Located at 30 River St. in Petersburg, the River Street Market will be open from 8 a.m. to noon Saturdays from May 6 to Oct. 28.
