The Roanoke City Market is the heart of downtown — a continuously operating open-air farmers' market that has been on the same block since 1882, making it one of the oldest in Virginia. Farmers from the surrounding valley still set up stalls along Market Street through the warmer months; in the dead of winter the activity moves into the adjacent Charter Hall on the second floor of the old Market Building.
The blocks immediately around the market — the City Market Historic District — are the most lively part of central Roanoke. Restaurants, bars, breweries and independent shops fill the late-19th-century brick buildings, and on weekends the streets close to traffic for outdoor seating. The 1922 Market Building itself has been turned into a food hall on the ground floor, with prepared food from a dozen independent vendors.