by J. Brooks Terry
Staff Writer
Less than a week after it was reported the Downtown Farmers Market would be closing from December until March, representatives from Downtown Vision, Inc. have informed merchants and market regulars that plans for a temporary shut down have been halted.
According to DVI marketing director Lyn Briggs, who originally said vendor parking issues were behind the market’s closing, DVI’s offices were flooded last week with calls and e-mails from people who didn’t want to see the market go anywhere.
Calls came from customers of Ed Jenkins, a florist at the market known to many, as simply, “The Rose Man.”
“People didn’t want to lose this,” said Jenkins. “I have a pretty strong customer base and I told them, ‘If you don’t want us to close, make some phone calls. Tell them it’s not right.’ ”
Others like Jeannie Carnes, who sells produce, and Wandakay Bradley, a cake and pastry merchant, did the same.
Carnes even started a petition, and in only three days, collected over 150 signatures.
“I’m glad we’re staying,” said Carnes. “I imagine the customers are, too.”
Bradley said she’s most pleased about being allowed to stay open because she likes to see people walking the streets of downtown as opposed to staying inside all day.
“It’s good to see some foot traffic down here,” said Bradley. “It just feels great because we get to continue to bring a new flavor to downtown.”
Briggs acknowledged she knew people enjoyed the farmers market, but said she was surprised by the number of people who were willing to be proactive in keeping it going.
“You don’t expect people to actually do something when they’re upset,” she said. “But I know people were calling us, the mayor’s office, the City Council.”
Following a meeting Friday with the City’s Parking Department, Briggs said a compromise was reached.
Because it’s against City code to continue to bag parking meters during the market’s hours of operation, vendors will now be required to unload their goods and move their vehicles to another location.
For now, representatives from Central Parking have agreed to donate four spaces from one of their lots and DVI’s Ambassadors will watch over vendor stalls while they’re gone.
“We still have some issues we want to work through,” said Briggs, “but nothing that would cause us to close market again.”
In the future, Briggs said DVI would like to find a way to expedite the permitting process for market vendors to help facilitate continued growth.
“In all honesty, we wanted to find a way to keep [the farmers market] open,” said Briggs. “We didn’t want to lose any momentum. We want to see it grow.”