A handful of Wallingford Ave. businesses have opposed the expansion of the Wallingford Farmers Market onto the east side of the street, and the issue is, according to Chamber of Commerce president Kara Ceriello, “finito. done. zip, zero, no more. it’s dead, Jim.”
Ceriello sent out those emphatic words yesterday afternoon in an email. We followed up by phone, when she told us that after feeling certain late last week that the market could expand onto the east side of Wallingford Ave. for the last three or four Wednesdays of the season, the tide turned among the businesses.
According to Ceriello, “We has spoken to some of the businesses, we all thought the big hurdle was getting the city entities together. Someone from the city went to the businesses and it went nuts. We listened to their concerns and thought we addressed them by putting it on one side of the street.”
Without the approval of the businesses that would sit across the street from the market, the Chamber and the Farmers Market Association (FMA) wouldn’t be able to get approval for the market from the Seattle Department of Transportation to close the lane of traffic.
Jon Hegeman, who heads up the FMA, which runs the Fremont and Ballard farmers markets, among many others, spent hours talking with the businesses on Wallingford Ave. yesterday but encountered too much opposition to press ahead with expansion plans this year.
Ceriello reported that “there are two businesses that said, ‘Why is the farmers market good for the community anyway?'” The Chamber president said, “To have no sense of community and the need for a farmers market is bizarre to me. I’m so disappointed in the business community right now. The community at large wanted this.”
So for the rest of this season, just five more weeks, the market will stay in the south parking lot of Wallingford Center.
Next year and beyond are the big questions. “The market is in danger, we’ll have to revisit the whole thing,” Ceriello said. This year’s smaller Wallingford Farmers Market has been FMA’s first money loser, and Ceriello doesn’t have a commitment from Hegeman that they’ll return next year.
What’s your take on the market and its future? Is it important to the community? Where would you like to see it, and when (weekday, weekend)? The Chamber wants your input. Have your voice heard at a community meeting next Tuesday, Aug. 31, at the Wallingford Community Senior Center in the Good Shepherd Center (6-8 p.m.; presentation at 7). Or send email to kara@wallingfordchamber.org. Or comment here or on our Facebook page.
I went to the Wallingford market once on a Wednesday at 6pm because I work and can't get there earlier. I was disappointed to see numerous vendors offering similar items (lots of cheese, cut flowers, the same baskets of the same seasonal goods over and over)…and most of it was picked over since I arrived three hours after it kicked off. Granted I have not been back in about a year, so maybe selections have improved? At any rate, I think the fact it's on a weekday and relatively hidden in that parking lot conspire to keep it from turning more revenue.
Which businesses opposed it? I for one would like to know and would make a point of pledging not to shop at their stores. Don't they get that the farmer's market on their doorstep would bring a lot of foot traffic to them that they normally would not have?
lets make it bigger and better! how about the old lincoln hs. parking lot.
I don't live in Wallingford, rather Phinney Ridge, but I think that this position by the Wallingford Avenue businesses is reason enough not to trade with any of them.
weekend please. I would love to see it anywhere.
That is so disappointing. I am shocked to hear that some businesses on that street don’t see the value of the market. Do they not need the extra customers that the market would bring in? I too would like to know which businesses were against the market because I don’t want to give them my money any more.
If the market comes back I would love to see it switched to the weekend. As it is, I sometimes get off work too late to make it. I would go anywhere in the neighborhood.