Elena Day grew up eating fresh fruits and vegetables. Her Italian mother made food from scratch every day and instilled in her daughter a passion for all things simple and fresh. Elena herself was born in the Piedmont region of northern Italy, in the city of Torino, a sometimes forgotten tourist destination, but moved to Trenton, New Jersey in 1951 where she remembers admiring the myriad of ongoing and crowded farmers markets.

Her home, where she has lived with her husband and now-grown children for more than 30 years, is a small brick cottage with a large backyard that she transformed into a produce haven complete with 12 chickens and 24 adorable chicks. "I've always had a garden," she says and growing food without chemicals became a very important personal missive.

Walking along rows and rows of gorgeous buttery lettuce and cabbage in her small yet impressive garden, Elena admits that it costs more to grow chemical-free, but says the taste of untreated food is so radically better, it is worth every penny.

"I am very opposed to Monsanto and other companies using chemicals," she says referring to Monsanto's produce market monopoly and new techniques to genetically modify seeds.

To read more about Elena's life and passion for supporting local farmers, click here.  

By shopping at the Charlottesville City Market, you support the vendors, farms, artisans and businesses who sell their wares there every week.

Now you have a chance to support the market on a larger scale -  

by supporting Market Central.

You can become a "Friend of the Market" with a donation of $20 or more to Market Central.  As a friend, you're entitled to special discounts on event tickets, classes and merchandise offered by Market Central.  You'll also be eligible for specials throughout the season from our friends who are vendors at the market.  Check in with us at our booth on Saturdays to see what's on special this week.   

The City Market has started off its 2012 season with a bang - record crowds have teemed through the market for the first three Saturdays of the season. Still, the debate continues about where it will be located in years to come.

The Council-appointed City Market Task Force recommended last year that the market remain downtown as part of a carefully planned and developed market district, and while Council has seemed generally warm to the idea, there has been no commitment to the concept itself.  Market Central expects to see the matter come before Council for further action in the very near future.  If you sign up for our "Action Alerts", we'll let you know when response from the community is needed.  

To keep the conversation flowing, Market Central has invited City Councilors to come to our Saturday booth to hear from the market community first-hand. Councilor Dede Smith came to the market on April 14^th and engaged in lively conversations all morning at the Market Central table as she heard suggestions and encouragement from many vendors and customers. Thank you, Dede!

We have two more Councilors coming to the City Market in the next few weeks, and we encourage you to stop by and talk with them about what a thriving, downtown market means to you... and to our community.

Kathy Galvin  Saturday, May 5^th   9 - 10:30

Kristin Szakos Saturday, May 12^th 9 - 10:30

We'll keep you informed about progress and activity with City Council actions regarding the City Market, and would encourage you to write to Council and ask for a commitment to this vision.

Click here to email all Council members.  

CMDA would like to ask YOU to support the market district initiative in Charlottesville ~ sign up here to add your name to the growing list of supporters!  You'll find a timeline for the task force process and recommendation at keepitdowntown.com.