Durham Central Market

Thanks to all the DCM owners and friends who came out to Durham Central Park on Memorial Day. The event was bookended by rain, but the blue sky appeared right on cue. Wonderful music, good food, and a great time. Check out the gallery for more pictures.

UPDATED INFO: Plans for vendors have not panned out, so we will be making available meat and veggie burgers and dogs with all the fixings, and Locopops(!!) all available for a suggested donation. An additional grill will be available if you want to bring your own food to grill/barbecue. Red Rover, Mark Cool, and the New River Rock Skippers will be providing live music! Come and join us!!

Volunteers from Durham Central Market staffed the smoothie booth at the recent Strawberry Festival, Saturday, May 2nd, in support of Durham Central School. A fun time was had by all. Thanks to Heather Tunnell, Sandy Gray-Terry, and DCM president Michael Bacon for representing DCM at the Strawberry Festival.

Durham Central Market has hired Don Moffitt as our Project Manager!
Don brings a unique combination of decades of experience in the grocery
industry with a deep and demonstrated commitment to Durham.

Don, a Durham resident and business development consultant, previously
worked with Whole Foods Market for 18 years. He served as vice president of
store development for seven years, and was responsible for the real estate,
design and construction of numerous stores. In addition he managed a store
in Texas and, for eight years, served as the southeast regional president

Spring is here and that means it's time for the PIEDMONT FARM TOUR, now in its 14th year!! There's no better way to jump into the season that to get in the car and visit some of the growing number of local organic farms in our area. Details from the tour brochure:

Overall, the tour features eighteen produce farms, twelve farms with
humanely-raised animals, two nurseries, three vineyards and five farm projects.
Says CFSA Executive Director Roland McReynolds, "Sustainable farming in the
Triangle is really coming into its own these days. Everything you want to eat

We are well into our second phase of development and thanks to the hard work of a handful of volunteers, much is happening to bring this Community owned grocery store to a fabulous spot nearby! Imagine! 1-stop shopping with a Durham flavor on a cooperative model -- something like a Weaver Street Market does Durham kind of thing. The board of directors held a retreat in January to solidify plans that will take the store to opening around the end of 2009 or beginning of 2010. The financial feasibility report has been completed and the market study will begin shortly.

The January 28th issue of the Independent ran a story on the sale of the building on Chapel Hill Street, the former location of the Durham Food Coop, and its new life as home to an acupuncture clinic. The story included some comments from Michael Bacon, DCM Board President, on the connections and also the differences between the two organizations. From the Independent article:

Here's word on an upcoming six-part seminar series on sustainable agriculture and local food systems/markets that may be of interest to DCM owner/members. The first program is on Wednesday night, January 21st at 7pm. The locations and speakers will change throughout the series. Visit the website link above for more details on the individual programs and how to register. Members of the DCM Board will be attending. Here's a brief description from the series website:

The board of the Durham Central Market met at the UDI Resource Center in Durham on Sunday, January 11th for six and a half hours with several long term, dedicated committee members for fellowship and these specific purposes:

1. To redefine the role of the board and to explore how/how much/when to expand the current four member board.

2. To hammer out a job description for the project manager and outline the hiring process for this key individual.

3. To have a look at a timeline for what is ahead of us and how we can have the best opportunity for success going forward.

Gift shares are now available for purchase. See our gift share request form. Fill out the form and send it to us with $100 per owner share purchase. We take care of the rest. An owner share in Durham Central Market makes a wonderful gift and a great way to buy local.