Farmers near Scottsville have a new venue to sell their produce, according to the Daily Progress. A $150,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture federal grant was the primary source of funding for the new farmers' market, which will help stimulate economic growth downtown. The pavilion constructed to house the famers' market will hopefully become a heart of the community as the town drafts a rental agreement which will allow people to rent it for gatherings such as reunions and wedding receptions.

This is a great opportunity for area homeowners to experience one way federal funding can boost a community and aid in protecting home values in rural areas.

"Scottsville cut the ribbon on a new farmers’ market pavilion on a humid Thursday evening under threatening skies.

Vendors weren’t concerned about the rain, though. The consensus opinion was the pavilion is wonderful and a definite upgrade from the tent it replaced.'

I thought the tent was going to come down on us several times when the wind got high,' Ben Poindexter, owner and operator of Ben’s Baked Goods, said.

A $150,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture paid for the bulk of the three-year project. Scottsville pitched in $10,000, according to Clark Draper, town administrator. The project came in $168 over budget, which is 'just phenomenal,' said John Garber, the architect who designed the pavilion.

Ellen Davis, the Virginia state director for rural development at the USDA, was on hand to help christen the new structure. Davis, who was appointed by former President George W. Bush in 2006 and kept on by Barack Obama’s administration, manages a $2 billion portfolio for the state. It goes to developing anything in rural Virginia, from farmers’ markets and libraries to sewage and water systems."

Read full story.