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being overly “boisterous.” 91 The City Market’s current layout and status—a welcoming, exciting place for both locals and visitors—meets Cason’s conception of the market. “I just knew it would turn out like this,” Cason muses, “that it would be a nice place for people to come and meet each other and enjoy the morning.”
    People have been enjoying the morning at the City Market for over forty years now. It’s a place to grab breakfast, whether a fresh-made omelet or piping-hot donuts with a side of Shenandoah Joe’s coffee. It’s a place to meet friends, whether you go with a gaggle of fellow UVA students or take the whole family, newborns included. It’s a small business incubator; many local businesses that started out as a stall at the City Market now run good-sized and well-known operations, such as Carpe Donut or Barefoot Bucha.
    Perhaps most of all, it’s a Charlottesville signature. First-year students at the university place excited phone calls to parents, telling them about the bustling parking lot downtown where they spent—and ate away—most of their Saturday morning. Young professionals bring home gifts of sage and pork sausage for the holidays, informing their families about the vendor from whom they purchased their breakfast. People from different counties, social backgrounds and professions all show up on Saturday mornings—or Wednesday and Thursday evenings—to partake in the ritual of buying groceries direct from vendors.
    Stephanie Andregg-Maloy, current manager of the City Market, has been almost single-handedly responsible for the market’s success and relevancy in the twenty-first century. When she came on board in 2003, the market was much smaller, with forty to fifty vendors. She wanted part-time work and hadn’t realized the city ran the market, given that it wasn’t well advertised and there was no visible structure. The thought of improving the market was interesting to Andregg-Maloy, and its Saturday-based work allowed for time with her son.
    The market, more than anything, needed organizational skills and management skills. She wanted the market to be “more of a business than a chaotic gathering.” 92 The first month was chaos—non-reserve vendors would just show up and make lines on First Street. People would arrive at 1:00 or 2:00 a.m. and sleep in their cars in order to get a spot. It didn’t make sense for farmers, given that “stuff will go bad.” Farmers lined up for visibility and business, which the central location in a parking lot on Water Street downtown enabled. This spot on Water Street has been “in transition” and “temporary” for many years, which causes “anxiety for the vendors because of spatial insecurity.” Though numerous city meeting and citizen petitions have ensued, the City Market has remained in the same spot, albeit a “temporary one,” since 1993. Andregg-Maloy allows that while the market has always had a good reputation, it’s only gotten better.
    Andregg-Maloy’s priorities for the current market are produce, fruits and prepared foods. Andregg-Maloy is quick to point out that while the Charlottesville City Market has changed over the years, it still remains true to Cason’s vision of a place where farmers sell their produce locally. Today, farmers compose 45 percent of the vendors, selling produce, including fruits, vegetables and cut greenery; live plants; herbs; flowers; meat; poultry; eggs; and dairy products. The farmers’ market also operates on Wednesday in Meade Park and Tuesday in the Forest Lakes neighborhood on Route 29, as well as smaller offshoots in the UVA hospital parking lot or around town on various days.
    The occasionally high price of local goods and the well-off customer these goods normally attract have not escaped Andregg-Maloy. Since 2003, she has made it a priority to involve,