Crowds Flock To Opening Of Reston Farmers Market

RESTON, VA — Reston Farmers Market opened for the season Saturday morning to brisk business at Lake Anne Village Center.

"Last year, we opened on May 9. We opened late because of COVID and we had 809 customers," said John Lovaas, who founded the Reston Farmers Market 24 years ago. "Today, as I'm speaking to you, we're right at 1,900."

Most of the COVID-19 restrictions were still in place — vendors and customers were required to wear masks and practice social distancing as they made their way through the market.

"The only COVID restriction that has changed is that have people walk two ways instead of just one way," Lovaas said, who c0-manages the market with his wife Fran and Keith Strange. "Masks were strongly recommended last year. This year, they are required by law."

These restrictions didn't seem to dissuade people from getting out, enjoying the warm weather, and shopping at the market. By 11:30 a.m., many of the vendors' tables were already empty.

"I have never seen a group of people feeling better and happier than this group today," John Lovaas said. "There is a spirit here that blows you away."

Twenty-five vendors had set up tables to sell their wares on Saturday. Lovaas said that he expects that number to grow to 29 or 30 for the rest of the season, which runs through Dec . 4.

Although the majority of the vendors who set up on Saturday have sold at the market before, Shenandoah Valley Produce, a 100 percent organic farm from Winchester, Virginia, was making its debut appearance.

"There's going to be a very eclectic assortment of produce coming in," Eric Reynold of Shenandoah Valley Produce said. "You're going to see stuff that you don't normally see at the grocery store, unless you go to a speciality store."

Jessica Catlett of J&W Valley View Farm, which has been coming to the market since its founding, said they would be bringing something different every week.

"Right now, it's strawberries and all kinds of greens," she said.

Glascock's Produce of Berkeley Springs, West Virginia is another of the vendors who have been at the Reston Farmers Market since the beginning.

"We sell everything," Mark Glascock said. "We stay with the seasons. We start out with plants and then we move to strawberries and then we go to tomatoes and peaches, and finish with apples, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower. Whatever it takes, to diversify to stay in the market and have something different, as each season changes, we're here with it."

Located 4 miles west of Tysons Corner off of Route 7, Potomac Vegetable Farms is the produce vendor that travels the shortest distance to the Reston Farmers Market.

"We're a vegetable farm," said Michael Bradford of Potomac Vegetable Farms. "So, we have a lot of greens this time of year. We get summer squash and tomatoes. We don't tend to do fruits, because we grow organically. We do all the things that we can grow locally and organically."

Being the farm closest to the Reston market makes a difference.

"Tomatoes are the thing that we excel at, because a locally grown tomato is a substantially different product than something brought from far away," Bradford said. "We are the most local of all the people. We bring our tomatoes from as near as 3 miles away."

The Reston Farmers Market will operate Saturdays through Dec. 4, from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m, at 1609-A Washington Plaza at Lake Anne Village Center.

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