The 19th Street Farmers Market won’t be moving as was briefly contemplated under its new contract with the City.
The Council approved a franchise agreement Tuesday with the Old Beach Farmers Market at 19th Street that allows the food and art market to use the public right-of-way. The resolution did not include the option for relocation to 18th Street, as Resort Administrator Mike Eason had planned last month.
Market founder Laura Habr, who co-owns Croc’s 19th Street Bistro, requested Eason hold off on the option to relocate. As it is, 18th Street is not a viable or safe spot, she said.
“Would you want to go to a market with ditches and trees?” Habr said Wednesday. “It’s been in our parking lot and growing on 19th Street for eight or nine years, and it’s worked out just fine the way it is. It’s not broken.”
The volunteer-run market was founded in 2008 and opens on select Saturdays in the off-season and every Saturday in late spring and summer. It is hosted in the Croc’s parking lot and requires the closure of 19th Street between Cypress and Pacific avenues.
Eason briefed the Resort Advisory Commission last month on including the option to relocate in its next franchise agreement with the city. The idea was to remove the market from a main thoroughfare, according to Eason. He planned to draft a franchise agreement that would allow for relocation to 18th Street in the future. He removed the condition after market organizers requested more time to discuss the possibility.
The one-year franchise agreement approved Tuesday by the City Council allows the market’s continued use of 19th Street and the possibility of extending the contract two years. A new agreement would have to be approved for any relocation. Habr said if the city found a suitable place, the group would consider it.
Eason said he is unsure of the possible effects on traffic as the market continues to grow, particularly with future development on 19th Street.
“Right now I don’t know the long-term affect,” he said.
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