The Arlandrian: 4MRMarket Report: "Clothing Drive with a Sountrack" Edition

Cleaning out your closets? 4MRMarket can help. We're hosting St. Rita's Annual Clothing Drive this Sunday! St. Rita Church is conducting its annual clothing drive and will be collecting gently worn, clean cold weather clothing and rain gear of all sizes this week.

Look for the collection box at the 4MRMarket Tent. The clothing will be distributed on Saturday, October 13th from the St. Rita School Hall to our neighbors in Arlandria.

At the same time, you can be entertained with a free show from Shane Hanley. That's right, for the 6th weekend in a row, and 7 of the last 8 weeks, 4MRMarket brings you a live show to compliment your day of shopping, donating, and generally having a good time.

Shane has performed in a number of bands in Hawaii and DC area. He is now dedicated to performing on his own for the first time in the nation’s capital. After seven years of playing for friends at parties and performing at open mics in both DC and Hawaii, Shane is recording a new demo and working harder than ever. Looking forward, Shane has stepped away from his much louder, antagonistic rock-influenced sounds of Butters and the Three Man Riot and his short lived family project, Comatose Calling. Instead, he melds his new-found love of Hawaii’s signature instrument with a soulful and relaxed take on living in the city."

4MRMarket as featured on NPR

4MRMarket has our great supply of produce, meat, cheese, crafts, breakfast treats, and more. Grab some goodies, donate your old, gently used duds, do your shopping, pull up a seat in the 4MRMarket Lounge, and listen to some great live music!

Sunday will please meat lovers with the return of What's For Dinner Now, but unfortunately, Sweet Central Cupcakes will be away (they've got something else in the oven).

Here is who you'll find at 4MRMarket this week:

Bread & Chocolate (Arlandria) - A range of baked goods.
C & T Produce (White Oak, VA) - A huge selection of locally grown produce from a locally, family-run farm in Stafford, Virginia.
The Stifler Farm aka "What's For Dinner Now" - Farm-raised Black Angus beef, humanely raised on lush pasture fields of the Shenandoah Valley, naturally farmed pork...and now... Uncle Frank's Grilling Sauce!!
St. Elmo's Coffee Pub (Del Ray) - Brewed coffee, tea, and a few extra goodies.
No. 1 Sons (Arlandria) - Produces wild cultured foods by hand in Alexandria. This brother and sister team live in Arlandria and do not heat treat or use preservatives. They make pickles, sauerkraut, dilly beans, kim chi, beets, hot sauce and more that is "Proudly Cloudy".
Tom's Amish Cheese Store (Lancaster, PA) - Artisan Cheese, yogurt and Pennsylvania honey.
Baguette Republic (Sterling, VA) - A traditional artisan bakery producing a large variety of artisan breads, pastries and cookies using the best European techniques and tradition.

Crafts and Natural Health Supplies:

Swee Lo (found at the No. 1 Son's Tent) - Sterling silver jewelry handcrafted by Balinese artisans designed by Swee Lo.
Josi Essentials Organics (Centreville, VA) - A naturally effective, eco-friendly, line of handmade bath & body skin care goodies. Her products are made with bio-dynamic, natural botanical active ingredients.
Kayvee International - Clothing, dresses and scarves from India
Kenya Microcrafts - Fair trade handmade baskets and jewelry from Kenya.

Crafts available on a rotating basis.

See below all the ways to help and participate in the market!

The supercool 4MRMarket t-shirt

BUY. Proceeds of our 4MRMarket T-shirts go to support the expansion and revitalization of 4MR Park. They cost $12 and come in 4 colors. See us model a few at the market. You can pre-pay online via Pay-Pal (send money to 4MRM@arlandria.org).

DONATE. Help 4MRMarket help 4MRPark. Tax-deductible donations can be made to support us in our efforts to revitalize Four Mile Run Park. Donate to the City's Living Landscape Fund to fund tree and other amenities at 4MRExpand More information here.

HELP. If you'd like to volunteer with the 4MRMarket, go to: volunteer.4MRMarket.org to sign up or look for the "volunteer" tab on our website. You'll be able to volunteer to help process SNAP/EBT sales, help us keep our books, help set up or tear down for the market, or help us find musicians to play the market. You can also find a Market Manager to ask to help, or email us at 4MRMarket@arlandria.org for more info.

READ. Keep up to date on all the goings on by following 4MRMarket on Facebook or Twitter or via our website and blog.

SPREAD THE WORD. Please tell folks about us. And tell folks about some of the great things we're doing. For instance, all SNAP/EBT participants can take advantage of the Inova-sponsored "Double Dollar" program again this year that doubles the first $10 SNAP participants spend at the market. 4MRMarket is the first farmers’ market in Northern Virginia (and still the only) to accept SNAP.

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Buy Fresh Buy Local 4MRMarket products.

The Four Mile Run Farmers and Artisans Market (Alexandria, Virginia 22305) brings fresh, nutritious food to people of all income levels, provide an opportunity for local artisans and producers of goods to bring their wares to market, strive to reflect the diversity of the community, and improve the quality of life for Arlandria residents and visitors. It is part of an overall vision to expand and improve Four Mile Run park and the surrounding neighborhood.

4MRMarket is open every Sunday from 8am until 1pm from May through October in Four Mile Run Park at 4109 Mt Vernon Avenue, Alexandria.