The Wild Ramp in Huntington W. Va.: 10 Years of Supporting Local Farmers
Shelly Keeney, Market Director at the Wild Ramp, talks about the 10-Year Anniversary of the local business.
Celebrating a decade of helping local farmers
The Wild Ramp, a nonprofit organization, operates unlike most farmer's markets. Its consignment store-like layout creates a hub for local farmers to sell their produce all-year round. Keeney explains that the business offers a good deal if a Farmer wants to go a different route rather than the traditional market, which is based off an 80-20 model where 80% of the profit goes to the farmer and the remaining 20% goes to the business. The Wild Ramp is built off of volunteers and staff members who have a passion to have local produce available and also want to provide farmers with a space to sell locally.
From a project idea to a business
Keeney explained the inspiration came about in 2009, when Huntington was labeled the unhealthiest and fattest city in America. Following that, ABC's Jamie Oliver took a visit to Huntington, and gave the area a bad reputation. His visit led to a group of community members, Marshall students, and organization leaders to come together to combat the stigma by creating The Wild Ramp. Keeney started as a Producer for the Market, and was a part of the founding group.
"When you're called the most unhealthy city in America, people will want to leave or not want to come here," Keeney said. "What inspired it was talking about local food, and trying to make things better. How could we prove to the rest of the US that it wasn't true and there was more to us just being the fattest and unhealthiest?"
But the project was able to meet a lot of its goals and grew into a success business very quickly.
A Community Effort
Keeney said the market model came from Local Roots in Wooster, OH, which they learned about from Jane Black, a Washington Post reporter.
She said, "In the beginning we weren't really sure it was going to be a storefront like it is now, we just wanted to be able to have local food all-year round, all the time, and that could've looked like a lot of different things."
The Wild Ramp welcomes change and thrives off of community support and community action. Keeney said it's never been a "board" as a the decider, it's always been the community.
An achor to 14STW
The Wild Ramp has brought foot traffic and farmers within a 50-mile radius to 14STW since 2014. Although the market supplies staff and volunteers to help sell the produce, farmers are encouraged to bring their own following. The Central City Market is another great partner to the business that brings people to 14STW.
Keeney said, "We did a lot of 'Hey did you know about this,' to people within the community. Beth Rankin worked on our blog, and it was the biggest help to reaching out to people who really enjoyed local farm food."
The Wild Ramp is a place that brings the community together. Keeney said she thinks the business is important to the 14STW revitalization movement.
What's to expect
"I definitely see more change," Keeney said. "We are launching our online food hub, so I see us reaching more customers than we did before because we will have more of an online presence. In turn, that will bring foot traffic to 14th Street."
The Wild Ramp's 10-year anniversary happens July 12th, 2022 so stop in and see them anytime from 10:00AM-6:00PM. Check out their FaceBook or website to learn more about their business, staff, and get updates on their organization. Keeney said they will be celebrating their anniversary July 17th from 1PM-4PM. See the details here.
