Asked to share five percent of the proceeds, Wilson decided instead to move the food pick-up point to nearby Old Trail Village which— while it may not be able to offer giant shade trees— won’t charge the Community-Supported Agriculture entity a fee.
Downtown Crozet needs to encourage more community activities in the Downtown area rather than encourage them to look elsewhere. Surely there’s more to this?
Beginning this Saturday, June 13th, Horse and Buggy Produce will offer farm-stand produce to subscribers and area residents from 8:30 a.m. – 10 a.m. every Saturday at the Old Trail Village Center. Horse and Buggy Produce, a provider of local produce and other farm goods, has long offered subscription-based shares to Albemarle residents. They are expanding their operation to include farm stand options, allowing all area residents and visitors to purchase fresh items from Mennonite farms in the Valley of Virginia from pick-up locations such as this.
Jim Duncan: It’s a beautiful Wednesday afternoon in Crozet Virginia. I’m watching the cars drive by and all the necks are craning in anticipation of Trailside Coffee opening up. I’m sitting here with Marcia McGee, owner operator of Trailside Coffee. Hey Marcia!
Marcia McGee: Hi. Thanks for coming out.
Jim Duncan: Tell us why you started it.
Marcia McGee: Why I started it was because at the time there were no coffee shops out here and I live and grew up out here and wanted coffee. That’s why I started to deliver coffee to Crozet! It’s just taken me a little bit longer than anticipated.
Jim Duncan: What do you expect the shop to look like? What do you hope the vibe is of the shop and what are your goals?
Marcia McGee: The vibe of the shop, Trailside Coffee, I like hiking and I want to take this and bring it inside or make it a seamless transition. I want it to be very comfortable. There is going to be a fireplace and wood and natural colors and just a place for people to hang out and talk and drink coffee, tea, smoothies, whatever brings them here just to hang out.
Jim Duncan: Are you going to have a full menu?
Marcia McGee: I say that yes we are. We’ll have Pannini’s made to order bring it out to your table kind of deal, but we’ll have sandwiches and different stuff made up for you and can heat them up – Pannini’s and soups and salads and stuff like that, muffins, and croissants and bakery items and cookies.
Jim Duncan: Are you excited?
Marcia McGee: Yes! Very excited! I’m a little reserved because I’ve been excited for so long. We’re close, we’re very close. It’s just that we’ve been close for a long time.
Jim Duncan: What are you looking forward to the most?
Marcia McGee: To coming to work everyday. It’s kind of what I want to do. It’s a social environment hopefully delivering people a cup of liquid sunshine everyday, getting to talk to them, and live, work and play all in one space. You know? I get to bike to work. I get to work out right down there. I get to see my friends and family and have it all happen in one spot.
Jim Duncan: I’m still hanging on that liquid sunshine.
Marcia McGee: [laughs]
Jim Duncan: How are you going to achieve that? Tell us about the process of the coffee and what you’ve learned about how to make a good cup of coffee.
Marcia McGee: Well you know it starts with the beans. Some of the beans we’re bringing in are of the highest quality so that process is a painstaking one that they all go through and then it’s delivered to us. It’s going to be about training people. I achieved my level one Barista certification; there are three. Colleen is ready to take the test and hopefully all of our Barista’s will be certified, if not a large percentage of them. Training will be a major focus and then it’s just teaching people about coffee and finding out what they like, having cuppings, showing the different types of coffee’s and everything that it has to offer. We’re going to broaden everything they thought the knew about coffee and just blow them away.
Jim Duncan: What’s the feedback from people then as you talk to them about Trailside Coffee opening up, besides the anticipation and the excitement, what are they looking forward to?
Marcia McGee: I think they’re looking for a community place. I think they’re looking forward to learning about coffee. That’s actually one of the things that’s been surprising is teaching people or just talking about that. People didn’t know how many hand-picked beans are in one cup of coffee or their latte’. I’ve had a major response to that. I already have people who want to come to the monthly cuppings. They’re just looking forward to having a place close. Right now they have to drive into town. They want to sit here because a lot of people live around here. I’m kind of blessed because we’re in Old Trail neighborhood. I think they want to walk and get the newspaper and enjoy a cup of coffee in the mornings and not have to drive somewhere else to achieve that.
Jim Duncan: I can’t imagine why anyone would want to sit out here on this patio!
Marcia McGee: [laughs] Yeah, and have a nice beverage.
Jim Duncan: It’s just so hideous out here with all these mountains and greenery.
Marcia McGee: It is, yeah!
Jim Duncan: It’s just beautiful. Absolutely beautiful.
Marcia McGee: Soon we’ll have ice cream, ice coffee, hot coffee, smoothies, tea, homemade lemonades and gingerales and all sorts of stuff.
Jim Duncan: Are you going to have alcohol or music?
Marcia McGee: Music, yes, especially we’re going to do things outside. We have the fields to kind of cross around. So definitely music. I’m set up for it. Wine. I have a place for wine and beer. The thought was to do that and I still may, but I’m kind of just taking it one step at a time right now.
Jim Duncan: Do you want to actually open first?
Marcia McGee: Yes. I want to open first and be good at a couple things and be really good at a couple things rather than just OK at a lot of different things, so that is something that I’m prepared to add onto the menu, right now we’re not. But now we have with the wine bar coming behind us I’m not sure that we’ll need to.
Jim Duncan: Right.
Marcia McGee: Again, it’s kind of focused on a few things. I didn’t think there was going to be anyone serving wine or beer here before so that’s why I was prepared and I am prepared. I have the space to do it so we’ll see. We’ll see.
Jim Duncan: Cool. Anything else you want to add to the future customers of Trailside Coffee?
Marcia McGee: Just come out, give us a try, come hang out, experience the place and let us know. We want to be the community coffee shop, so I don’t have a model of something we’ve been before. We’re certainly not a franchise, so all I can say is let us know what you think and what you want and honest feedback so we can be that. That would be it.
Jim Duncan: Cool. Marcia thanks so much for your time.
Come Talk with County Staff about the Crozet Master Plan!
Wednesday, June 3 at the Crozet Library.
Drop in anytime between 3:00 and 6:00 p.m.
* Do you want to learn more about the current Crozet Master Plan?
* Were you unable to attend the May 27 Master Plan Refresher at Crozet United Methodist Church?
* Do you have questions about the Master Plan after attending the May 27 Refresher?
For more information, please contact Britton Miller at 434-972-4176 or [email protected].
At Albemarle.org. (Update 15 November 2016 – the link to Albemarle’s site is dead) Once again, this is a remarkable opportunity to contribute your opinion to the future of Crozet. If you’re pro-growth, anti-growth, indifferent-to-growth, please take the time to express yourself.
Your neighbors on the Crozet Community Advisory Council, in collaboration with Albemarle County staff, are starting the process of revising the 2004 Crozet Master Plan. Your input and participation are essential. The Crozet Master Plan is part of the County’s Comprehensive Plan and establishes a blueprint for the County’s future decisions on land use and development, transportation systems, public facilities and utilities, resource protection, housing, human services and public services. Part of that plan’s original 2004 adoption includes a requirement to review the Plan after five years.
This questionnaire has been created to gather public input about Crozet and the Crozet Master Plan. It is not intended to be a scientific or statistically valid survey, but rather as a way to get feedback from as many people as possible. The results of this questionnaire cannot be used to draw any specific conclusions or assumptions about the general community’s perspective, but will be used in providing ideas and understanding the perspectives of those who complete the questionnaire.
This survey is one of several opportunities for your active participation in the decisions affecting our community in the next five years or so. This is an opportunity for all of us to take a careful look at Crozet’s development and consider new actions and solutions to problems that may emerge.
We urge you and anyone else in your household to each fill out and return the following survey so that your ideas and concerns will be heard. We hope everyone in your family will complete a survey.
It should only take you about 10 to 12 minutes to complete this survey. There are no right or wrong answers; what’s important is your opinion. All of your responses are anonymous and will be kept confidential.
Thank you in advance for your time and thoughtful input.
CROZET MASTER PLAN REVISION KICKOFF MEETING TOMORROW NIGHT (MAY 27)
Citizen Questionnaire available on line beginning May 27
Crozet residents are invited to a public meeting on Wednesday, May 27, at 7:00 pm at the Crozet United Methodist Church to kick off the five year revision of the Crozet Master Plan, which was adopted by the Board of Supervisors in December, 2004.
The meeting will focus on two objectives – to provide a community refresher on the current Crozet Master Plan and also to introduce and distribute a questionnaire sponsored by the Crozet Community Advisory Council to gather information from the Crozet community. The Crozet Community Questionnaire will be available online from May 27-June 12 at www.albemarle.org/crozet and at the Master Plan Refresher session as well as other locations around Crozet.
The master plan update is an opportunity to assess Crozet’s progress in achieving the goals set in the Master Plan adopted in 2004. As a Development Area in the county’s land use plan, Crozet is expected to continue to provide a place for growth to occur outside of the designated Rural Areas as part of the County’s overall growth management policy. Now at the five-year mark, it is time to determine what may or may not have developed as envisioned in the plan, given the experience of four plus years of the plan in action. The update is an opportunity to revisit and revise issues of concern from all perspectives.
Focus areas for the revision will be determined this summer based on public feedback, input from the Crozet Community Advisory Council and staff analysis and will be presented to the Planning Commission and the Board of Supervisors for their review and comment this fall.
Lee P. Catlin
Community Relations Director
Albemarle County
401 McIntire Road
Charlottesville, VA 22901
(434) 296-5841 (office)
(434) 531-8092 (mobile)
