We are working to make this a safe outdoor event with masks that we received from the Brooke County Health Department and we will provide a hand cleaning station .
We received donations from Ruth’s Pets and Plants flowers to fill the large planters in the front. Also, Susie Freshour of Wilkins flowers donated the mums that are planted in the front in the small barrels. City of Follansbee is providing a porta-john, dumpster and is cleaning up the lot to help improve safety while people visit the Open Market. Brooke County Schools has donated equipment that will also be used at the Market. WVU-Extension Energy Express college mentors built the large wooden flower beds, and the city has kept the flowers looking beautiful!
If you know of any musicians that would like to set up and contribute their talent at the market for an hour or 2 please let Joan or I know.
We would like to invite all of you to come by the Market and see the vendors that are setting up to sell at the market.
This will also give us an opportunity to evaluate the vendors as we work to establish Phase 2 indoor market.
Thank you for your cooperation and we look forward to learning from this Open Market and making improvements as we move forward.
We received 2 small grants and the county commission allowed us to run one of the grants through their offices. They also provided some funding at the beginning of the year that will be used for this Market.
I want to give credit to our AmeriCorps VISTA worker Joan Simonetti for her tireless energy, ideas and coordination as we have moved this project to fruition.
Thank you and hope to see you at the Follansbee Downtown Market tomorrow and Thursday!
Sincerely,
Norm and Joan