Reston Farmers Market Manager John Lovaas Steps Down After 26 Years

RESTON, VA — Saturday will be the final day for the 2023 season of the Reston Farmers Market. It will also be the last day for market founder and manager John Lovaas.

Twenty-six years ago there was no farmers market.

Lovaas, a retired senior foreign service officer, was deeply involved in the Reston community. Not only did he serve as the vice president of the Reston Association Board of Directors and president of the Alliance for a Better Community, he chaired the local Democratic Party committee.

In 1997, a group calling itself the Friends of T.O.M.A.T.O. [The Organic Market At Tall Oaks] came to the RA board with a proposition. Giant Foods wouldn't let them operate a farmers market in the store's parking lot.

"They discovered that Lake Anne was as dead as a doornail," Lovaas said. "The grocery store there had closed. The plaza had no business. It was really a desert."

Having already gained the support of the Lake Anne of Reston, A Condominium Association Board, the Friends of T.O.M.A.T.O. asked RA for money to pay for advertising and to hire someone to run the market. The person hired to be market manager would be trained in the first year and take over the market in its second year.

Everyone on the RA board said they didn't want to get involved in something like that. But Lovaas asked if it was going to be a paid or a volunteer position. They said the latter.

"Here's where it happened. Here's where history was made," Lovaas recalled. "I said, 'You know, I'd do something like that.' End of story."

Aside from raising some vegetables with his father when he was in high school, Lovaas didn't have much experience with produce or fruit. But, Leo Brubaker, a retired colonel in the U.S. Air Force, taught him everything he needed to know that first year about running a farmers market.

Then, with Lovaas taking the helm in the second year, the Reston Farmers Market grew from nine to 12 to now it has 35 vendors who set up every Saturday morning in the Lake Anne Plaza parking lot for the next 26 years.

Patch: When you started out, were those nine vendors just selling produce and fruit?

John Lovaas: My recollection was that there were four, perhaps five, produce and orchards. The rest was a spice vendor calling themselves Peace in the Valley. They often wore all the 'Peacenik' tie-dye clothing of the era. I was always worried they might be selling something I didn't authorize on the back of the truck, but they weren't. The Flowers Lady, Marvelous Market, and there was possibly Nature by Design, a native plants guy.

The five that are still there are Penn Farm, Glascock's Produce, 78 Acres, Grace's Pastries, Toigo Orchards, and Potomac Vegetable Farms.

As the years went by, was there a difference in the type of vendors you were getting?

Over time what has happened is I still have the biggest complement of produce and orchard vendors. You’ll notice the market now has several value-added vendors such as Philippine donuts, ice cream, pho, and more.

What makes the Reston Farmers Market different from the other markets in the area?

When I started this market, you could probably buy five or six kinds of apples. You could buy three kinds of tomatoes. You could buy one kind of eggplant. You could buy one kind of corn. You could buy — I don't know how many kinds of peppers.

You can buy 45 to 50 kinds of apples. You can buy 40 t0 50 kinds of peppers. You could buy six to eight kinds of eggplant and several different colored cauliflower.

In what ways has the market helped to feed those in the area experiencing food insecurity?

We added the gleaners function. At the end of the market, volunteers takes what the vendors haven't sold, and they take it. That can range from a single pickup to a couple pickups.

It took me five years lobbying to get SNAP in the market. It’s growing, and is already the largest in the County in terms of beneficiaries served.

Cornerstones is a great asset to the market. Cornerstones has the relationship with the beneficiaries. That's the benefit of having Cornerstones manage it.

As the market closes, volunteers collect unsold fruits and vegetables from farmers to take the nearby Cornerstones food pantry. They collect the food in plastic bins, sometimes enough for two pickups.”

We also have master gardeners. All the homeowners come in and they've got a problem with their plants etc. These are folks who come in and talk to the people grow their food.

How did you wrangle you wife Fran into helping you with the farmer's market?

For the first 10 years, she was working most weekends, so she didn't have any duties. Then she saw how much fun I was having and she came over and said she barged in is what happened. So she's been with us for 15 years.

About five years after she did that, a lady came up to us named Anne Strange. She said she was concerned. "My husband's about to retire. I really want something for him to do. Can you help me out?"

Keith Strange has been with us like 10 years and Ann started a couple of years after he did. They know as much about the market as I do.

Over 26 years, you've taken the market and expanded it, what are your thoughts now that you're stepping down?

I'm leaving the market in great hands. It's an all volunteer operation. Fran has been with me almost from the beginning, while Keith and Anne have been aboard for 10 and about 5 years respectively!

I just made a recruit. A guy named Ben Miller, whose name I didn't know but I've seen him for many years. He always shopped here. It turns out he worked one year and one of our stands. Fran said for me to tell you that she's going to be working with a younger man. He's only 65.

Why did you decide to step down at the ripe old age of 81? Did you just feel that you've done enough?

It's not that I've done enough. I'm not sure that it isn't time for some new blood. I've been doing it 26 years. I've got a way of doing it. I think it can only be done this way and I noticed every once a while everybody's pushing on the side. They just may have some different ideas.