We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Melissa Williams-Abbington a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Melissa thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

During the Covid Pandemic we had to hibernate ourselves and keep a distance from each other. This created an issue with people who needed their healthy, from the farm fruits, veggies, meats and eggs. We were to close everything down except for the important businesses, to which after much fighting from Farmers Market Coalition Farmers markets were included in that list of important businesses, This opened the door for me to figure out a way for the people to get their market foods, while keeping the distance between the people and the vendors as well as vendors from other vendors. With some serious thought and talks with my farmer & food vendors we came up with the Drive UP market, and here is how it worked: Keep in mind only farmers and food vendors were allowed at this time.

The Farmers made an order list for the customers to order from, customers would pre order then pick up their goods at the market location by driving up to the vendors tent. The tents were spaced 10ft apart from each other creating a horseshoe shape in our lot. This worked out so well other markets called to find out how we were doing it and soon there were many markets open doing a drive up. Vendors soon started to expand this order/pick up at the market, to order and we will deliver as well, thus keeping them thriving and the customers happy during a Pandemic.

This was a risk for us to take, no markets in the Northern Va area were operating at this time and not expected too, Many felt the risk was not worth it and to have one during a pandemic was a foolish & dangerous decision to make. But, I had my customers and vendors to think of and that was not easy. there was having to get approval of my plan buy the City and the Police. I had to create a map of how the vendors would be set up, how I was handling the distance and how I was handling the hand off of the food to the customers. The police came out the 1st day to check the set up and watch the execution of our plans. We followed all the requirements set forth by the CDC and FDA. It was successfully organized and ran, thanks to Ron Taylor, my vendors and customers.

The slow return from the Pandemic placed me at another risky decision to make and that was one of mask and distance. Since we were not be required to have mask on while outside and were able to have a 6ft distance, I was able to think about putting the market back to its original layout. This decision was not welcomed at first. Ron and I had to show the City and Police that our plan was still within the new guidelines. The Plan? create as sign saying “Mask are not Required” siting the new ordinance underneath, while moving the vendors in from 10ft a part to 6ft a part and allow non food vendors to now come back. What was the risk? loosing vendors and customers for this decision. Many customers and some vendors were not happy with the “MASK ARE NOT REQUIRED” and moving the vendors in to be just 6ft apart. We held firm with our decision and bobs your uncle, the mask mandate and distance was fully lifted and we were once again a normal market.

Taking risk is really about looking at all sides of the situation and weighing out all of the risk and benefits. Once you decide to pull that trigger on your decision you must stand strong by it and see it through.

Melissa, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am a transplant from England, brought here by my husbands career. Prior to doing events and running the Farmers Market in the City of Manassas I was a Paralegal for over 21 years with general practice firms. Looking for a change in careers I landed into a General Manager position of an event venue, where i found i am pretty good at doing weddings, small corporate events & holiday parties. When the venue was sold i found myself planning events on a much larger scale and outside for Historic Downtown Manassas.

Working with vendors and performers means you need to be able to coordinate with different personalities and do your best to bridge any language gaps, thank you translation apps and friends. You also need to be fully aware of the needs of vendors/ performers and how they set up their scheduling for the year so you are sure to get the vendors/performers you are looking for. You will also need to be aware of the policies, permits and fees of the area you are holding the event in. Marketing is also very important, you can put an event together, but if no one knows of it you will have little to no attendance and you will then loose trust with vendors. Remember vendors will talk about the best and worst events they attended.

I have had to work with many different personalities and needs. I never tell a vendor/performer or attendee of my event or market; “HOLD ON”, “IN A MINUTE”, OR “I DON’T KNOW” I will listen and work out the best solution. You have to keep a good relationship with your vendors/performers and attendees. Now in saying this, it brings me to mind that at times you do have to make the hard decisions and follow through on the policies. Letting one person get away with violating rules and policies will loose you respect with your vendors/performers.

I had to remove a vendor over wooden coins (SNAP – food stamp) that a customer got from the market to use for the purchase of fruits, veggies, bread & honey. This woman was with her child enjoying her day until she popped into one of our vendors tent, to purchase honey. He refused to sell it to her, told her to go back to her country and threw the wooden coins that she gave him to pay for the honey, back at her. Now I was not there to see this first hand I was at the other side of the market, but the vendors next to this vendor and customers, seen this happen. The woman, the customers, and the vendors next to the honey vendor explained to me and Ron what had taken place. I talked to everyone separately then talked to the vendor that threw the wooden coins. He got heated and yelled, We kept our calm and had to make the hard decision to remove this vendor. We cannot have a vendor assaulting a customer, embarrassing her as well and disrespecting everyone around them including the market master and manager. It’s not easy to tell a vendor they are to pack up and leave in the middle of the market day. Decisions such as this and others, like motorbikes coming through your event and running down the crowd, require you to be calm and handle the situation to the good of the event and the attendees. Its not always glam and unicorns.

There are good moments and great accomplishments as well. City of Manassas Farmers Market was not well known when I took it over, it was average in size and vendors and many locals did not event know Manassas had a Farmers Market. We are now 5 times the size it was when I took it over, vendors & customers talk about us to other vendors and even shops they think should be at our market. We have been the #1 market on for the last 3 years straight, We are massively diverse and the total atmosphere is what many like about the market. It is truly like a family. Vendors watch each others tents, they barter with each other and the customers enjoy the variety of vendors and the band! Yes! we have our own band.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

Do not sit and wait for Clientele to come to you, go out and find them. As an event coordinator you will find you will have to search for vendors you think you need or will make your event even better.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

Events are fun to coordinate and not too difficult to fund at least in my experience. You will usually have to lay out the initial down payment for the space. Once you have the space and the cost of having your event you can now determine how many vendors you can hold and with that what the cost will be for each vendor. The vendor fees will pay the remainder of the venue fees for you. Sponsors are also a great way to gain funding to pay for your event. All you need to do is create a power point presentation about your business, events and what they can gain from sponsoring your business and events.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.HistoricManassas.org
• Instagram: Historicmanassas
• Facebook: Historicmanassas

Image Credits
LAR Expo, Viking Festival, Bands, Brews and BBQ, Farmers Market, 1st Fridays, Yoder’s Donuts