A new monthly farmers’ market and craft fair kicks off in Allenstown on Sunday, converting a Family Dollar parking lot into a bustling open-air marketplace.
The market is the brain child of Crystal Robbins and Elizabeth Joyce, both members of the Allenstown economic development committee, and pilots what Robbins hopes will become a weekly market next year.
“We’re just trying to revitalize the community, bring it together, bring business into the community,” she said. “Hopefully people will come out and shop.”
The market was born out of another endeavor that’s been Robbins’s single-minded fixation and the source of her sense of purpose for months. A construction manager at Washville Car Wash by day, she hopes to open a sober house in Concord within the year through her nonprofit Summit Sobriety Services.
Addiction, Robbins said, runs in her family, and she hopes the sober living facility will serve as a resource for those committed to their sobriety.
Bringing that dream to fruition has demanded investment and lots of elbow grease.
For months, Robbins has sold scented candles at other open markets to defray the cost of acquiring her non-profit status, which she secured in June, and the everyday items she needs to open a sober living facility: furniture, dishes, toaster, couches, beds, dressers, toilet paper and cleaning products.
Allenstown Board of Selectmen waived its vendor fee for the market in late July, so Robbins and Joyce will split the market’s own vendor fee between the cost of craft fair insurance and advertisement.
At her own booth, Robbins will be selling her candles, accepting donations and working to spread the word about her nonprofit.
“Right now, we’re just saving all our pennies and everything and raising money as much as we can,” she said. “It’s a passion project that’s very near and dear to my heart.”
Her organization’s first sober house, which will cater to men in recovery, will provide a structured communal-living environment where members are expected to pay rent, attend weekly house meetings, engage in counseling and build a new life for themselves.
“When you live in a sober house, you’re surrounded by other people who have the same goal as you, which is to get sober and stay sober,” she said. “Where we couldn’t help all the people that needed the help, we can help the people that want the help.”
The Allenstown Farmers’ Market and Craft Fair will run from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the last Sunday of each month from August to September. The events are hosted in the parking lot of the Allenstown Family Dollar at 48 Allenstown Rd. in Allenstown.