Longtime Vienna Institution Maple Avenue Market Closes Permanently

After nearly 10 years in downtown Vienna, Maple Avenue Market closed for good on Sunday.

The market was a farm store run by Sara and Chris Guerre, farmers with a 10-acre property in the Shenandoah Valley who sold their produce and supplies from other small farms throughout Virginia.

According to a post on Facebook:

It is with great sadness to announce that we are closing our beloved Maple Avenue Market after nearly 10 years in business.

For the past decade we’ve been humbled by your patronage, and by your belief in our mission of envisioning solutions to help reinvent our local food system and creating change from “the ground up” in our community.

Growing, cooking, and sharing good food with all of you, and with local public schoolchildren, for so many wonderful years … will perpetually encourage us to see the world, not for what it is … but for what it might be … and for that, we are grateful.

In the comments, many people, including several local politicians, shared their stories of what the market meant to them.

“Chris and Sara, thank you for your service to our community over the past decade through Maple Avenue Market and beyond,” said Fairfax County School Board Member Ryan McElveen, who is also running for Board of Supervisors Chairman. “You have nurtured young students in our region and taught them the importance of accessible, healthy food. For that, we are all immensely grateful!”

“Thank you for being a great community business for the past 10 years,” said Vienna Town Councilwoman Carey Sienicki, “and especially for your noble mission of providing quality ingredients and supporting our schools in finding the good ways that our children can think about their food and how it gets to the table.”

Photo via Facebook