Local Foods, Local Places Case Study: Huntington, West Virginia

Huntington, West Virginia, is an industrial city on the Ohio River. In 2014, the city leveraged Local Foods, Local Places planning assistance to plan for the relocation of a beloved local foods market and usher in revitalization in its new neighborhood. 

Through the 1970s, Huntington's economy was based primarily on the steel industry, but the city's population had decreased from its peak of more than 80,000 in the 1950s to about 49,000 in 2014. 

In 2012, a group of Huntington residents and nonprofit organizations began discussions about opening a market to provide an economically viable outlet for local producers and improve access to healthy, local food. To organize community support and input, they used weekly "chat-n-chews," which were established by Create Huntington, a grassroots support network, to provide a place where residents interested in positive change could gather and explore ideas for improving the city.

Soon, a steering committee formed focused on a new market. The committee used social media to gather additional input, announce events, and generate community support for the idea. In less than a year, the Wild Ramp market opened.

The Wild Ramp offered local producers the chance to sell on consignment. Producers set their own prices and stocked their own displays, keeping 80 percent of the proceeds, with the remainder supporting the market's operations. Three paid staff members and a volunteer board of 11 people operated the market, with the help of a large cadre of volunteers who collectively worked about 500 hours per month.

By 2014, the Wild Ramp outgrew the space at its first location and moved into a new 2,500-square-foot building along a historic commercial corridor in the Old Central City neighborhood.  The market was able to expand to nearly three times its original size, allowing space for a small commercial kitchen, cooking classes, agricultural workshops, sustainability programs, and other community events. The Wild Ramp was Huntington used its Local Foods, Local Places workshop in 2014 to help plan for the success of the market in its new location and support revitalization in Old Central City. The process helped coordinate several related projects, maximizing their impact and success.

The city of Huntington was a partner in the LFLP process and subsidized the market's move as part of an initiative to help rejuvenate the neighborhood. The city sought proposals from organizations to manage the city-owned building as a local foods market. The winning proposal for the Wild Ramp helped advance the city’s goals to reduce vacancies, prioritize development in existing commercial corridors, and promote commercial uses that serve residents' needs. The market brought new foot traffic to the corridor while giving neighborhood residents much-needed access to fresh, local food.

In its first five years of operation, more than 225 producers and artisans earned $2 million from sales at the Wild Ramp. In addition, the Wild Ramp complemented the many antique stores and other small businesses in Old Central City, supporting its renaissance as a tourist destination. 

LESSONS LEARNED

• Early community input and buy-in generated enthusiasm that has sustained the effort.
• Volunteer labor and the city’s financial support were critical to the market’s success.
• Location on a commercial corridor benefits the market and other businesses.

This case study appears in the Local Foods, Local Places Toolkit.