TAZEWELL, Va. – Tazewell town leaders say they’ve applied for a $296,500 matching grant from the Tobacco Region Revitalization Commission to create the Clinch River Pavilion.
The planned structure would house the Tazewell Farmers Market as well as other events.
The Tazewell town manager tells WVVA the site for the planned farmers market is located where the former bowling alley was torn down last June.
“We are trying to use the space for something to better the community. Our Tazewell Farmers Market have been kind of nomads. They’ve been on main street a couple of times, out to the farm bureau a lot,” said Leeanne Regon.
Regon says thanks to grant funding from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality the town has worked with architectural consultants for a design which may include a kitchen area and market storage for the new pavilion.
Regon says farmers market vendors already come from surrounding counties and she believes creating the new space could lead to even more economic growth.
“If we can get this farmers market pavilion done in the coming years there will be the north Tazewell revitalization project. I think that if we can show we’re investing into our community I think that others will want to invest in our community too,” said Regon.
If awarded the grant, Regon says the town will be breaking the project down into stages.
“We’ve asked for it to be broken down into phases. We like small achievable goals. I know that there has been a lot of projects that we had talked about in the past that never came to fruition. So we want to see this project come to fruition even if we have to do a little bit at a time,” said Regon.
Regon says if the town is awarded the grant the first phase of the project is to construct the pavilion structure. She says other phases may include a river walk on the property.
She says the town should know if they are selected for the grant by May.
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