Friends of Ferrum Park continues to march forward in its process of bringing a park to the village.

The park has been preparing for the Farm and Craft Market with improvements, including building a storage shed and creating ADA-accessible walkways and a handicapped parking lot.

“We’ve prioritized accessibility, keeping our vendors centralized in our area for ease of access,” FOFP Director Rebecca Saunders said. “There will be 10 handicapped/senior spaces right up front built to the same standards to create one continuous path of safe access from the handicapped parking area to all market vendors.”

The pathways and handicapped parking will be built to the Americans with Disabilities Act standards, using compacted crush-and-run rock for a level surface throughout the market.

On the park’s property, the non-profit has been waiting for eligible grants for the park’s projects. With recent federal cuts, however, the grants are becoming elusive.

“We’ve been working hard to locate and apply for any and all eligible grants for the park,” Saunders said. “Unfortunately, a few of the bigger federal and state grants that we had hoped to apply for are currently paused with some uncertainty about their future availability.”

FOFP has had to shift, focusing their efforts on smaller foundational grants.

“While we had hoped to get one large grant to complete a project, we’ve since adjusted all of the park projects to be done in phases and will be looking for grant funding that can cover each phase of the projects,” Saunders said.

The park was unable to receive large grants because of the federal budget cuts being made.

A majority of federal grants the park was eligible for have been paused indefinitely.

“There’s no indication if or when they’ll open back up again, so we’re having to proceed as if they won’t,” Saunders said. “Its had the largest impact on our plans for a permanent structure for the Farm and Craft Market, unfortunately, as we were pursuing a USDA grant.”

This spring, the group is focusing on three projects: accessibility to the Farm and Craft Market lot, Phase I of the all-accessible trail, and beginning the infrastructure for the RV and primitive camping spots.

“We’ve already begun applying for grants to help cover Phase I of the accessible trail, and we’re working to find a sponsor to cover the cost of the Farm and Craft Market improvements,” Saunders said. “These improvements center around creating handicap-accessible parking and paths around the market to better accommodate folks with mobility needs, as well as making the market more enjoyable for everyone.”

FOFP’s focus on the RV and primitive camping spots is giving people a local option for camping.

“This not only helps support other local businesses but also allows the park to have a passive revenue stream for paying back the cost of the property,” Saunders said. “Grants for these kinds of projects are hard to come by, so we’re looking at all options when it comes to funding the cost of the infrastructure needed for the RV park.”

Payments for the park property are $30,000 per year.

The park is reserving six months of property payments from that total, ($15,000) and will not be pulling form that unless it’s necessary.

“It’s so important for us to get a secondary revenue source to make sure we never dip into that six-month payment reserve,” Saunders said. “All funds brought in by all of our events, plus all the revenue from the eventual RV and primitive camping spots, will go directly back to supporting the park project.”

FOFP has a list of events they are hosting next month.

April 4 at 11:00 a.m. located at the Blue Ridge Institute and Museum is the First Friday’s Senior Learning Series.

April 12 from 10 a.m.–1 p.m. on the park’s property is the Franklin County Poultry Swap.

April 17 from 3-7 p.m. on the park’s property will be the Ferrum Farm and Craft Market Opening Day Celebration.

April 19 at 5 p.m. at the Crossroads Ruritan Club is the Saturday night dance.

May 31 is an all-day event from 8 a.m.–5 p.m. on the park’s property and is the Southwest Virginia Alternative Living Festival.

“This event will promote and support the –live your own way–idea,” Saunders said. “From off-grid to underground, tiny homes to truck conversions, you will find it at SwVAL.”

Saunders added by saying the focus of the event is on information, building connections, and creating community.

The event will feature keynote speakers on topics such as DIY aquaponics, DIY solar, building with hempcrete, finding and distilling salt, edible native landscaping, foraging edible mushrooms, heirloom seed saving, compressed earth building and thriving in an off-grid world.

Demonstrations will include DIY poultry processing, ammunition reloading, mushroom log farming, beekeeping, and building with cordwood.

Visit www.swval.com to purchase tickets.