Buchanan Hall & Buchanan Hall Farmer's Market

Dear Friend and Neighbor,

 We need your help. With a mission to serve as a vital cultural, civic, and community cornerstone, Buchanan Hall is proud to have funded, supported, and hosted innumerous events in 2023, including twenty-six weeks of the Buchanan Hall Farmer’s Market!

Buchanan Hall spent thousands of dollars every week to fund our beloved market and watched as friends from near and far took to the historic lawn for a free community event on Wednesday afternoons from spring to fall. We supported incredible live music, a farmers’ and vendors’ market, children's programming, and a place for friends and neighbors to gather. Watching the community come together at the Hall is inspiring!

That is why we are writing to you today. The level of financial support our cherished events require, especially the Farmer’s Market, while maintaining a century-old historic building,  doing the necessary upkeep and management of the property, has increased exponentially this past year and exhausted our funds. Your contributions are needed to help us continue to be the cornerstone of the community.

 After our first year of the Market, we saw such an overwhelming response in donations that we had been able to sustain operations to this point and exceed our initial expectations of what this event could be. Now that we have finished year three, we need the community to once again show their support. 

With six months of free live music, great vendors, delicious food, and excellent company, the Market has provided our little village with a wonderful sense of community and fun throughout the majority of the year. However, this takes a tremendous commitment by our staff and volunteers to pull off, not to mention the healthy financial weight it carries to put on a season-long free event. Paying the bands every week, the coordinator, the market staff, and the necessities of trash removal and weekly permitting are only some of the costs incurred, and we need the support of all who want to see this fantastic event continue. 

The funds raised by this appeal will also subsidize operations during 2023/2024, including much-needed renovations and repairs to our historic building, payment of the mortgage, utilities, landscaping, the salary of our part-time Operations Director Montana Lanier Ruffner and our support staff, as well as supporting community events hosted by the Hall.

Buchanan Hall’s charitable 501(c)3 Mission is being fulfilled every day as we provide a central location for the Community of Upperville and its surrounding neighbors to gather in fellowship for community and cultural events with a very limited annual budget. 

The Hall operates these great events: Buchanan Hall Farmer’s Market, The Buchanan Hall Fly Fishing Field Day in partnership with Orvis & Trout Unlimited, and National Sporting Library & Museum - a family-friendly event offering both lessons in fly tying and fly casting from some of the top fly fishing professionals in the area. Piedmont Pride - this sold-out experience offers fanciful, campy, and bold entertainment, bottle service paired with the fun and inspired catering from Polished Foxx, hosted by Anja our hilarious master of ceremonies, making it a night to remember rarely offered in Hunt Country. Holiday Bazaar & Pictures with Santa - mark your calendar for this free event for all ages which supports our local farmers, artisans, and business owners happening on Dec. 10! 

Outside of Buchanan Hall-operated events, we have provided at-cost rentals for community organizations this year for The 59th Annual Daffodil Show presented by the Upperville Garden Club, the Tour De Conservation Easement presented by Land Trust of Virginia, Community Meeting on Energy Infrastructure and Data Centers presented by PEC, The Virginia Steeplechase Association’s awards, Middleburg Music Fest International Piano Concert, LFCC’s nursing cohort, The Piedmont Fox Hound’s fundraiser, Paragon Philharmonic, Highland’s Spring Fling, Foxcroft’s Prom, Virginia Point-to-Point’s annual meeting, Upperville Colt & Horse Show, Willisville Preservation Foundation Gospel Concert, and more! 

Additionally, we have made it a priority to keep our rates for community members extremely affordable to host life’s moments. If you need us for a wedding, memorial/funeral, or party of any kind, we want to provide a relaxed and elegant space nestled in your Hunt Country.

To achieve this we rely heavily on our neighbors and friends to provide whatever support they can. Over the past three years, the Hall has been able to provide the above-mentioned activities and more on an extremely low annual budget of less than 100,000 dollars. We want to make sure we can continue to provide you with a venue that you can take ownership of and that continues to leave a legacy of superior community support.    

On behalf of the entire Board of Directors and staff, it is our privilege together to be stewards of your historic Hall and we thank you all for your continued support.