Brandenburg is director culinary strategies for EDENS, a development company that is renovating the historic Union Market building located at 1309 Fifth St. NE. The Summer Picnic Spectacular is a preview event happening from noon to 6 p.m. Saturday before the market officially opens to the public in September.
What can residents look forward to if they attend the Summer Spectacular?
We’re going to have some of the best chefs in D.C., and we’re going to have a cook-out. I really think good food is going to be the biggest thing there. There will also be a sneak preview of the marketplace. Then there’s a whole lot of good fun for families and people with their friends.
How do you hope the Summer Spectacular will promote Union Market?
What we’re all about is building community. Union Market is a community builder. It’s something for the people in the city where people can go and just be.
Why did EDENS decide to renovate Union Market? What makes the location special?
It has history. The history of the whole area from the 1930s all the way to the sixties has the Central Marketplace. It became a central food area in Washington D.C. It’s bringing that back to the area.
What are you most excited for residents to see when the Union Market is finally open to the public?
That’s what made me quit being a chef. EDENS gave me the opportunity to bring more food to more people, and that what Union Market let’s me do. On a Tuesday when there’ s not a farmer’s market in the area, I can go to the Market to get the produce that I want to use.
— Roxanne Turnbull
