Carbondale Bytelife

Looks like Carbondale Main Street's relaunch of its farmer's market on the Square is a moderate success, with about a dozen vendors showing up for the inaugural day last Saturday, about 3 times the number that showed up on Wednesday afternoons earlier this summer. About half the vendors were crafters of some form but there was still a good selection of peaches, tomatoes and even some grapes.

Labels: downtown Carbondale, Farmer's Market

Front page story in yesterday's Carbondale Times says the Murdale Farmer's Market hasn't gotten a lease signed yet for next year. I've heard discussion about this since mid-November. Given that things start up again at the market in about2 and half months, the market board can't be thrilled with a lack of a sure location. There has been talk for the last couple of years that the landlord has wanted to move the market (One possibility I heard about a year ago involved moving it into the field to the west of the parking lot).

According to the story, the markets' directors want to stay on the west side because their customer base is located in the neighborhoods behind Murdale. The Murdale Shopping center proper doesn't seem too thrilled about having the market move into its lot. While there's plenty of space on the east side, the market's directors would have to do some fast negotiating to get in any of the lots and lots of advertising to let people know about the move.

Moving it to the town square is another possibility, though the parking lots down there don't offer the same ease of access for vendors that the lots on either side of town do. However, negotiations would be much easier as the market would be dealing with the city rather than a private landholder and both Carbondale Mainstreet and the Town Square Coalition would likely work to make the move easier.

Labels: Farmer's Market