Where Community Grows
The Campaign for the Norwich Farmers’ Market
A Rooted Tradition, Growing Forward
What began nearly 50 years ago as a handful of local farmers selling produce to neighbors has blossomed into a thriving, year-round hub of commerce and connection. Today, the Norwich Farmers’ Market hosts over 75 vendors, welcoming more than 2,500 visitors weekly, and generating $2.2 million in sales during the summer months alone.
Behind the joyful bustle of tents and fresh produce is a powerful local economic engine - a system that supports farms, families, and the fabric of our rural community.
Why It Matters
The Norwich Farmers’ Market is more than a vibrant shopping destination - it’s a vital hub for local agriculture, community well-being, and economic sustainability. For farmers, the market is a cornerstone of their livelihood. Many vendors earn up to 75% of their annual income here, making it essential to their ability to farm full-time, invest in sustainable practices, and adapt to climate change through season extension and innovation.
For the community, the market is a trusted source of fresh, local food and a place to connect. It brings together people from across the Upper Valley, including individuals and families who rely on SNAP, EBT, and Crop Cash to afford nutritious food. As demand for local produce and meaningful community spaces grows, the market answers with abundance, accessibility, and joy.
Whether you’re a farmer or a neighbor, the Norwich Farmers’ Market offers something essential: a place to grow, to gather, and to thrive - together.
Noah Skogerboe
“The Market allows me to directly support local farmers while giving me access to the best quality ingredients and connecting me to how they were produced.”
Our Challenge: Outgrowing the Infrastructure
The price of our success is that we've outgrown our current spaces.
Summer Market Site
Persistent drainage issues lead to soggy, unusable stalls. Vendor space is tight, and parking is both limited and unsafe for visitors.
Winter Market Site
Without a permanent indoor facility, we're forced to rely on temporary or borrowed spaces. This limits our ability to offer consistent scheduling, expand programming, and ensure reliable, year-round access for the community.
We’ve made do - but our farmers and community deserve better. It's time to match the infrastructure to the scale and vision of the market.
The Solution: A Permanent, Year-Round Market Campus
In 2025, we took the bold first step - securing a 35-acre parcel on Route 5, directly across from the current summer market. Now, we’re launching a campaign to build something transformative.
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A 7,500 sq ft permanent building to host the Summer and Winter Markets, along with year-round educational programs in gardening, cooking, and nutrition. Designed for all ages, it will support youth activities, adult workshops, and community events that promote local food, health, and connection.
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A larger, more efficient layout to accommodate additional vendors, provide consistent booth spaces, and allow room for future growth.
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A safer, thoughtfully designed parking area to better serve visitors in all seasons.
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A new home for the Community Garden and dedicated green space to celebrate and preserve our rural roots.
To make this vision a reality, we are launching a $5.7 million capital campaign—an ambitious yet essential investment in the future of local food, farming, and community in the Upper Valley.
A Unique Community Partnership
Growing more than food
This project goes beyond building a market campus - it’s about building a stronger, more connected Upper Valley community.
As part of this vision, we're dedicating a portion of the 35-acre site for affordable housing — an urgent need in our region.
Affordable housing supports the very people who help our community thrive - farmers, teachers, healthcare workers, small business employees, and many others who are essential to the local economy.
By including housing in this project, we’re addressing a deeper question: How do we ensure that everyone who contributes to our community has a place in it?
This is what it means to build true local resilience - connecting food, land, housing, and opportunity in one shared space. Together, we’re creating not just a market, but a community anchor that supports wellness, belonging, and a future where everyone can grow.
Join Us in Cultivating the Future
This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to invest not just in place, but in the values that define the Upper Valley. Let’s build a future where farms thrive, families gather, and our food reflects the strength of our region.
The Upper Valley is a place of extraordinary achievement—a region whose influence far exceeds its size. It is home to institutions that are shaping the future: a world-renowned college fueling innovation and discovery, a leading health system that transforms lives, and iconic businesses like King Arthur Baking, which have redefined how people across the country cook, eat, and connect to food.
We’re known for our vibrant arts scene, our natural beauty, and a working landscape that nourishes both body and spirit. This region has always been a place where ideas take root, and where people come together to build something greater than themselves.
Now, we have the opportunity to add something essential to that legacy: a permanent home for local food, local farmers, and the community that depends on both.
To lead this effort, we launched the Upper Valley Agricultural Association, a community-driven nonprofit with a bold mission: to create a campus that connects people through food, education, sustainability, and access.
This will be more than a market—it creates essential infrastructure for our farms, our families, and our future. It ensures that healthy, locally grown food remains central to our economy and daily lives for generations to come.
We hope you will support this campaign, and when you do, you’ll help build:
A resilient local food system
A stronger, more sustainable economy
A healthier, more connected community
Where Community Grows
Campaign Goal: $5,700,000
Phase 1: $1,000,000: COMPLETED
Secures the purchase of the land and preliminary design and permitting.
Phase 2: $4,700,000
Funds critical infrastructure and a permanent year round facility.
Ways to Give
Join the Where Community Grows campaign, a once-in-a-generation opportunity to create something lasting: a permanent home for local food, regional farmers, and the community that depends on them.
Led by the Upper Valley Agricultural Association, this community-powered effort will build a year-round campus for food, education, sustainability, and access. Your support will make this vision a reality and there are many ways to give. Multi-year pledges are welcomed.
Give now with Givebutter
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Gifts can be made through online credit card transactions, personal checks, or from a Donor Advised Fund (DAF).
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Gifts of appreciated stocks, securities or mutual funds are easy to make and offer a potentially significant tax advantage.
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Many employers offer matching contributions, which is a great way to double or even triple your gift’s impact.
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The Qualified Charitable Deduction (QCD) allows taxpayers age 70 ½ or older to transfer up to $100,000 annually directly from their retirement accounts to a public charity—without it being counted as taxable income. This gift can be used as your required minimum distribution (RMD).
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A gift “in honor” or “in memory” is a meaningful way to support this campaign while paying tribute to a loved one.
Other ways to give
All gifts are made payable to:
Upper Valley Agricultural Association
PO Box 525, Norwich, VT 05055
UVAA i a 501 ( c ) 3 nonprofit and gifts are tax deductible to the limit of the law. The Tax ID number is 994893979.
Leslie O’Hara, Hogwash Farm
“I rely on the market! It’s 50–75% of my income, depending on the year. The market has become our true community-based support and brings in more income than our other sales outlets.”
Your Questions, Answered
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Upper Valley Agricultural Association (UVAA) is a community-driven 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to supporting local farmers and strengthening the Upper Valley’s food system. UVAA was formed to acquire, develop, and steward the Route 5 property as a permanent, year-round market campus.
Mission: The Upper Valley Agricultural Association is dedicated to ensuring a marketplace for farmers and consumers to learn, grow and prosper together.
With the community’s support, UVAA is creating a welcoming campus with enhanced spaces and programs, including sustainable farming workshops, seasonal cooking demonstrations, and family-friendly activities. This campus will bring farmers and the community closer together, support local agriculture, and establish a shared resource for generations to come.
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Loretta L (Peggy) Allen, President. Former Norwich Farmers’ Market Board member; small farm owner and co-owner of Junction Fiber Mill in White River Junction, VT.
Nica Mieloch-Blinn, Vice President. Manager of Norwich Farmers Market.
Eileen F Lambert, Treasurer/Secretary. Interested local citizen. Retired Head of independent schools; knowledgeable in education, fundraising, and general organization.
Bridge McDowell, at large member. Advisor on all things engineering and construction. Civil Engineer and worked for multinational engineering companies for 15 years. Construction contractor and owned a commercial construction company for 20 years.
Karin Andrea Chamberlain, at large member. Sustainable Business & Investment Consultant. She also serves on the boards of VELCO and the VT Land Trust.
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Simpson Development Corporation is overseeing the permitting and construction process of the project.
Bowman is responsible for all civil engineering work as well as landscaping.
Barrett Architecture PC is the architecture firm.
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Once the site and building are near completion, the UVAA board will hire an executive director to oversee the activities of the organization, the marketing and maintenance.
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Beyond improved facilities,parking, and vibrant Community Gardens, UVAA envisions this site as a hub for learning, creativity, and community connection. Our programs will nurture the health of the community and strengthen the Upper Valley’s economic vibrancy in the following ways:
Land Use 101 - Introductory workshops at UVAA’s Community Gardens on planting, growing, and harvesting, led by experienced local farmers and gardeners.
Cooking with Local Produce - All-ages cooking classes highlighting locally sourced, seasonal ingredients, taught by local chefs committed to farm-to-table principles.
Preserving Harvested Produce - Hands-on classes in canning, drying, and freezing, helping community members extend the benefits of their gardens and farmers’ market purchases.
Food Entrepreneurs - Quarterly seminars for individuals interested in launching food-based businesses, from home recipes to market-ready products. Local food entrepreneurs and small business owners will provide guidance on recipe scaling, production, marketing, and business development.
Raising Livestock - Practical seminars on caring for and managing chickens, pigs, lambs, and cattle - held at area farms and taught by experienced local farmers.
Cut-Flower Gardening: For Fun and For Profit - Seasonal classes on growing and marketing cut flowers, from bed preparation to harvesting and arranging, led by Master Gardeners.
Seed to Cider - Seminars on fruit tree cultivation and cider production, led by local orchard-owners at UVAA’s year-round facility or onsite at participating orchards.
Maple Syrup 101 - Seminar on how to get started making your own maple syrup.
UVAA’s campus will also include a variety of complementary educational programs that support hands-on learning, local entrepreneurship, and wellness. Craft-based classes - such as woodworking and cheese-making - will provide opportunities to build skills and explore creativity. Outdoor-oriented wellness classes, such as yoga and Pilates, promote health and engagement with the natural environment.
Experts from Dartmouth College and the University of Vermont will be invited to lead seminars on topics ranging from healthy cooking to climate science. Dartmouth Medical School will offer “Cook Yourself to Better Health” workshops in our commercial kitchen, promoting practical nutrition education. Climate scientists will lead discussions on the local impacts of climate change, including seminars such as Climate Change Impact and Resilience, Managing Our Forests, Conservation 101, and sessions focused on current agricultural research and sustainable farming practices.
Our campus will also host community-wide celebrations of our local agriculture from Apple Press Parties to Farm-to-Table events to bring our community together. Got more ideas? Let us know. From time to time, the UVAA facility will be available for rent; email us for more information.
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As the project evolves, a new name for the market campus is being considered to reflect the full scope of planned community activities. The finished location will operate under its own name, which is still to be determined, but the weekly market will still be called the Norwich Farmers’ Market.
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The NFM will continue to be run as it is currently structured with its own board and by laws.
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The property will be thoughtfully divided into three sections to serve our community in complementary ways. Approximately 10 acres (the open field) will become the UVAA campus including a year-round home for the Norwich Farmers Market, educational programs, and community events - creating a welcoming and flexible ‘third space’ for neighbors to gather, learn and connect. A southern section will be subdivided and sold to Twin Pines to provide affordable housing, supporting a diverse and thriving community. A northern third section of approximately 4 acres, will be sold for fair market-rate housing, helping ensure the long-term sustainability of the property.
Our bold vision balances community gathering spaces, local food, and sustainable development to transform this property into a shared resource that strengthens the Upper Valley today and for future generations
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UVAA is excited to partner with Twin Pines Housing Trust by selling the necessary acreage for Twin Pines to develop much-needed affordable housing in Norwich. This collaboration reflects our shared vision for building a vibrant, inclusive community where neighbors can live, shop, learn, and gather together.
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UVAA is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, which means all contributions are tax-deductible (Tax ID: 994893979). Your gift directly supports the creation of a vibrant, year-round market campus, hands-on educational programs, and community spaces that will connect farmers and residents across the Upper Valley.
Contributions can be mailed to: Upper Valley Agricultural Association, PO Box 525 Norwich VT 05055.
We can also provide ACH account information for transfers. If you wish to donate stock, UVAA has a Schwab Brokerage Account. Contact us for details at info@Uppervalleyagriculturalassociation.org
We welcome pledges over multiple years! Contact us for multi-year giving options.ption
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This project will only be possible through generous community support, and we are grateful to those who help bring it to life. Donors will be recognized in meaningful and visible ways, guided by their personal preferences. Opportunities may include public acknowledgment and at select giving levels, naming or signage opportunities. We would be happy to discuss recognition options that feel right to you.
Contact us at Info@Uppervalleyagriculturalassociation.org
