The South Perry Business and Neighborhood Association met at the Perry Street Cafe last night. The business district is part of the East Central Neighborhood Council, yet years ago broke out a smaller business and neighborhood association to better be able to deal with South Perry issues and topics.

Brian Estes from the South Perry Farmers' Market said the market is doing great this year. "Many vendors have already doubled or tripled their sale at this point compared to last year," Estes said. "We are completely out of space and we have enough vendors on a waiting list that we could replicate the market two or three times." Estes said the market is already talking to the Spokane Parks and Recreation Department about creating a more permanent location in Grant Park, perhaps between the school and the backside of the businesses on the west side of Perry. "The Farmers' Market wants to seek a collaboration with the neighborhood, we really want input from people," said Estes. "We want to know what we can do to best serve the neighborhood as a whole in the future." He's hoping to have some sort of plan ready by the beginning of the school year.

There was an update from the Fair and Parade committee and a conversation about how to best work together with the East Central Neighborhood Council and the International District (on East Sprague, by One World Cafe) to avoid reinventing the wheel as the South Perry Business District develops.

The last part of the meeting was lead by Spencer Grainger who took the group through an exercise prioritizing community development goals such as increased visibility and branding, a summer concert series, how to develop a bike friendly neighborhood and how to create a website - those are just a few examples from a very, very long list. Grainger is following the Main Street USA model as a way in which to help the neighborhood hone in on high priority projects. By the end of the meeting everyone had signed on to several projects from the list.

Meetings are the second Tuesday of every month and they begin at 6 p.m. - everyone is welcome.