Herndon Farmers Market Returns Amid Blustery Weather

HERNDON, VA — A handful of vendors bundled up early Thursday morning and set up their tables, signaling the return of the Herndon Farmers Market to Lynn Street in old town for the 2021 season. It was cold and windy, but everyone seemed happy to be back.

"I think with us starting early, we're get a lot of people out," Market Manager John Dudzinsky said. "People are very excited about it opening up again."

Due to COVID-19 concerns, the opening of last year's farmers market was delayed until the middle of June. Duzinsky said most of the same restrictions are in place, including mask-wearing and social distancing requirements for customers and vendors.

"This year we've been able to open on time because we have it down to sort of a science now," he said. "We have plenty of room in Herndon, so people can do their social distancing."

Although only nine vendors set up tables on Thursday, 14 have signed up to sell at the market this year.

The Herndon Farmers Market welcomes four new vendors for the 2021 season: Bees of a Feather Farm, which sells honey, honey-based products and fresh eggs; the baker Baguette Republic; Urban Hippie, which sells plants native to Virginia; and Foggy Mountain Pasta.

Thursday was Carrie Clark's debut at the market. As the owner of Bees of a Feather Farm, Clark keeps seven beehives and raises chickens, ducks, and quails for their eggs.

A former energy and agriculture policy expert at a nonprofit, Clark started keeping bees on her Great Falls farm about a year ago. When COVID-19 struck, she decided to stay home with her four children and make the farm her business.

It's still a little too early for Clark's bees to produce honey for this year, but she has still has some available from last year's harvest and was selling homemade, honey-flavored candy among other products on Thursday.

Herndon resident Deb Grupenhoff, owner of Urban Hippie, was also a new vendor at the market. She was inspired to sell Virginia-native plants, because she wanted to offer over an alternative to the plants being sold at the big box stores.

"I want people to plant Virginia-natives, I want to plant for pollinators, and I feel like there's a need for it," she said. "I feel like sometimes when you go to these big box stores, the native plants are just so expensive and it's unachievable for the average homeowners."

Virginia-natives plants are beneficial for the wildlife and they do well in our climate, Grupenhoff said.

"When you're talking about planting something that is native to this area versus something in Asia, the bees, the birds, the butterflies, all of that needs native plants to survive," she said.

The farmers market will operate Thursdays, through Nov. 4, from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The market is located next to the Red Caboose in the 700 Block of Lynn St., in Old Town Herndon.