The Connection

After a long-awaited opening, frequenters of the Oak Marr RECenter knew exactly where to turn for their post-workout smoothies. On May 8, the blenders at Smoothie-Licious were in full gear. Founder and creator, Karen Jaynes, is the brains behind Oak Marr RECenter’s new smoothie cart. A yoga teacher for 16 years, Jaynes has been teaching yoga throughout Fairfax County for 13 years.

Fairfax County Park Authority (FCPA) has been on mission to support and create a healthy directive and lifestyle. Smoothie-Licious fits into that mission. “Using healthy food as fuel and nourishment…,” said Jaynes, “it’s a mission that I’m passionate about.” With the help of Kirt Chase, General Manager at Oak Marr and the support of FCPA, Jaynes was able to pour her passion for smoothies into a business.

THE IDEA for Smoothie-Licious came about unexpectedly. “I make a lot of smoothies,” Jaynes said. “And one day I decided to put on Facebook Live that I was making a smoothie… I came to work later that day and Kirt Chase had seen my video on Facebook.” He told Jaynes he had been thinking about opening a smoothie bar at Oak Marr for some time and after seeing the video, he thought Jaynes would be the perfect person to develop the idea and bring it to life. Surprised and intrigued, Karen Jaynes agreed to the challenge and crowd funded the entire initiative.

Setting a goal of $20,000 in January, Jaynes managed to raise about $11,000 in four short months. “Ninety-five percent of the people who donated to the cart are my students. They’re really what made this possible,” Jaynes said.

With a passion for eating local, Jaynes makes a concerted effort to take care of the earth. “We are cutting down on waste because we are using such fresh ingredients,” Jaynes said. “We are being really gentle with the earth.” Even the cups are made of corn. Using fresh ingredients not only cuts down on waste, but it supports local farmers. Every Wednesday, from 8 a.m. to noon, there’s a farmers market in the Oak Marr parking lot. When possible, Jaynes gets as much local and seasonal fruit and vegetable as she can from there.

For all the fruits and vegetables used in the smoothies, Jaynes makes sure they are as fresh as can be. “The fruits we use are picked at their peak ripeness so they are able to ripen naturally, as they should, at peak freshness.” The most popular flavor so far is Royal Karma, a blend of strawberries, banana, oranges, chia seeds and coconut milk.

Jaynes’s two children will be helping to make smoothies this summer. Jaynes is also hiring high school and college students to work at the smoothie cart. This local, woman-owned business not only benefits the gym-goers, golfers, and students of Oak Marr, Smoothie-Licious is open to the entire community.

“This is set up in a really ideal way,” Karen Jaynes said, “I have two of the best jobs in the world – teaching yoga and making smoothies. I’m really blessed and humbled.”

STOP BY Smoothie-Licious seven days a week. Check the Facebook page for hours of operation. Interested in supporting Smoothie-Licious? Visit www.gofundme.com/smoothie-bar-coming-to-oakmarr for more information. Smoothie-Licious can also be found on Instagram at #oakmarrsmoothies and oakmarrsmoothies.