The Lick Run Community Development Center is an experiment in neighborhood revitalization in the Washington Park neighborhood of Roanoke. In 2010 this parcel of land was riddled with trash and weeds and the old farm house was dilapidated. Rick Williams, the project founder, organized a cleanup effort with the help of local volunteers and started a complete 180 with the land.
The primary goal of neighborhood revitalization is to be kick started by first utilizing the property as a sustainable farm which feeds into an onsite public market. The market space will provide access to fresh fruit and vegetables for an area that the USDA has deemed a food desert and also provide an outlet for our neighbors to market their value added goods, wares, and crafts. The cleanup effort has been intensive with three tractor trailers full of trash being hauled away and a massive restoration effort on the house begun. Michael Grantz, a driving force in the ongoing experiment, is active in Lick Run’s continued development and began working this year as the onsite manager of the farm and Lick Run Market.