Vendors to aid fellow seller

Those who know Jack Cason will say with absolute certainty that not once has he missed Charlottesville’s City Market.

“Jack Cason is the face of the City Market,” said Amy Schilling, who has sold her jewelry and children’s clothing as a market vendor for four years. “He was one of the first people I met.”

Cason and his brother, George, helped start the venture years ago that has become a Charlottesville staple for about seven months each year.

“He and I were the first ones there,” George Cason said.

So despite feeling dizzy on the morning of Oct. 17, Cason, as has been his habit, got into his truck and headed into town with his produce.

This time he did not make it. After crashing his truck, it caught fire and left Cason with severe burns on parts of his body.

“The truck was just charred,” said Stephanie Anderegg-Maloy, the City Market’s manager.

After the accident, Anderegg-Maloy sent an e-mail out to the vendors to tell them the news. At the University of Virginia Medical Center, the farmer, who turned 80 on Friday, was put into a medically induced coma. He will undergo surgeries and skin grafts to heal the injuries.

“I hope he can make it,” his younger brother said.

But Cason’s constant presence on Saturday mornings and the camaraderie he has developed with his fellow locals inspired many of them to do something to help him and his family. Many — including Schilling and jam maker Daniel Perry — say they will donate 25 percent of their sales for the rest of the season to Cason.

“He’s so generous and he’s so giving,” said Schilling, who sets up in the Cason’s Water Street parking lot space for the market’s first few weeks, before the crops pick up. Schilling first challenged other vendors to give a certain percentage of their proceeds to the Cason family, and she hopes she will be able to rake in $500 over the next month to give away.

“It’s like having a family member get hurt,” she said. Of the proceeds, Schilling said, “That’s money that I’m not going to miss.”

This year, the City Market has been extended to run until the end of November. The local bazaar has also been especially lucrative this season, with merchants having sold close to $1.1 million in goods as of Oct. 17.

Anderegg-Maloy said a jar of donations would be set up today for Cason, whose wife is also suffering from her own medical ailments. On Friday, George Cason said his brother had developed a bacterial infection and the doctors were working on clearing that up before he was taken out of the coma.

“This was a big blow to them,” Anderegg-Maloy said of the accident. “Obviously, they need that income.”

Others have done the same, along with posting pictures and articles about Cason’s history with the weekly market, and they will keep doing so until it ends next month. Anderegg-Maloy said an outpouring of support has come in, and many others have agreed to donate something.

“He’s just an amazing man,” Anderegg-Maloy said. Of the vendors’ generosity, she said, “It’s been really kind of wonderful.”