WATERVILLE -- A dream brewing for more than a year became reality Monday with the opening of Barrels Community Market downtown.

The market features fresh, locally and organically raised vegetables, meats and dairy products, as well as breads and other baked goods, arts, crafts, soaps and cosmetics.

Market Manager David Gulak characterized Monday's kickoff as a "soft opening" and said the grand opening will be July 18.

"We really wanted to give people a chance to come in and look around and shop and give us lots of input," Gulak said. "We wanted to open it up and let people come in with the understanding that we're still working out the kinks."

The market is located in the former Lamey-Wellehan shoe store at 74 Main St. and has entrances both on that street and off The Concourse.

Patrons step into a bright, freshly-painted market with restored hardwood floors; meat and dairy cases; and shelves and bins containing everything from organic seedlings and potatoes to candles and hand-crafted pottery.

"I love it," said Bonnie Pribush, of Greenwood, Ind. "We just wandered in. It's our first day in Maine."

Pribush was perusing the aisles with her mother, Marian Colvin.

"It's a great idea," Colvin said. "Because we're from out of town, we're looking at it and saying this would be a great thing to take back. It's so unique and so different."

The indoor market was launched by the Waterville Main Street Program, which serves as the parent organization. The hope is that the market becomes self-sustainable, according to organizers.

The market offers local, affordable and high-quality goods either purchased or acquired on consignment, according to both Gulak and Main Street's executive director, Shannon Haines.

Haines said the basement of the market will feature community events including music gigs, lectures on nutrition, and educational demonstrations on how items in the market are made. Those programs will start in late August or early September, she said.

"Freshwater Arts will be down there as well, starting the summer session July 7th," she said.

The market was possible because of the work of many volunteers, she and Gulak said.

Waterville resident and volunteer Chuck Lakin spent about 100 hours building shelves and bins for produce and merchandise.

"This was all recycled lumber," Lakin said, of shelves holding various types of potatoes and other produce. "All the two-by-fours came right out of the walls here."

For bins, he used rough-cut and weathered lumber. Lakin, also a volunteer for Hospice Volunteers of Waterville Area, builds affordable coffins in his home workshop. One of his coffins, which doubles as a bookshelf until it is needed for use, is on display in a corner of the market and holds handmade candles.

Lakin praised market organizers, saying it is a natural extension of the downtown farmers' market, which is open 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Thursdays.

"It's nice stuff," he said of the items for sale. "There's no shortage of very talented, very inventive people in the world, but particularly in this area. This is kind of the bare-bones, but wait until people hear about it and start coming in with their crafts and things they make -- and not only crafts, but breads, cheeses, vegetables, all that stuff."

Barrels of dried beans, flours, pasture-raised chicken, nitrate-free Canadian bacon, free-range, grass-fed beef and other foods are available, as are herbs, cheeses, milk, butter and yogurt.

The market will not compete with the farmers' market, according to Haines, who said the indoor market will close at 2 p.m. on Thursdays when the outdoor one opens.

The name "Barrels" was chosen because it reflects images of a bountiful, old world-style marketplace, overflowing with barrels of produce, according to Haines and Gulak. The name is borrowed from Charles Barrell (although the spelling is different), who in 1874 bought the old building that houses the market, as well as the lot to its south. Barrell hired architect Francis Fassett to build a new structure and join it to the existing brick store.

The "Barrell Block," which comprises 72-76 Main St., includes Adams & Worth Home Furnishings on the ground floor and houses the film distribution company, Shadow Distribution, on the second floor. Shadow owners Ken and Beth Eisen own the building and serve as landlords to the market.

Volunteer Rachel Dingman, 23, of Waterville, was hanging an "Open" sign on the market door Monday. An AmeriCorps Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) worker at Colby College, Dingman said she and student volunteers have been helping out at the market and taking part in community service, civic engagement and service learning activities.

"I think that Barrels is a perfect example of how a community can have this idea of what they want -- they want local produce and fresh produce from Maine," Dingman said. "And David (Gulak) and the volunteers really took that idea and ran with it."

Colby donated $15,000 to fund a feasibility study for the market that included interviewing potential suppliers and developing a financial plan and budgets. Inland Hospital, private donors and in-kind help from Unity College also have boosted the project.

Officials hope to sell produce to large institutions such as hospitals and schools and partner with schools and colleges to incorporate curriculum, internships, work-study programs and student volunteer activities into its management and operation.

Amy Calder -- 861-9247

acalder@centralmaine.com