Marketplace Move To Park Gaining Favor Old Brewery On Trent Plans Public Market, Too
A site with a view.
That’s what MarketPlace vendors might get if members of the Spokane Park Board approve the market’s proposal to sell fruits, crafts and other items near the south span of the Howard Street Bridge in Riverfront Park.
After a meeting this week with the board’s Riverfront Park Committee, MarketPlace President Tom Culbertson said he hopes the outdoor public market will open May 6 in the park.
“Our proposal was favorably received,” said Culbertson, who has looked at 20 sites in the last six months.
The search began last July when the MarketPlace was notified it had to leave its Riverside and Division location of the past four years.
Talks with Riverfront Park officials started three weeks ago.
“It’s a wonderful location with great possibilities,” said Jackie Rappe, MarketPlace director. “The setting is so incredibly beautiful.”
The MarketPlace, which charges its vendors $20 a day for space, would pay the park $50 a day for rent.
Vendors would sell their vegetables and merchandise under portable tents and canopies near the bridge. Initially, the market would be open Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays, but Culbertson and Rappe hope they will have enough vendors and visitors to be open more than three days a week.
“Personally, I was impressed with the proposal and I am quite hopeful for the MarketPlace,” said Ann Schneider, a member of the Riverfront Park Committee.
But the MarketPlace may have competition.
Less than a mile from Riverfront Park, organizers hope to open another public market in late May or early June at the old Schade Brewery building, 528 E. Trent.
For the last two years, customers at the antique mall and carpet store in the old brewery have told owners Gailya and Louis Bonzon that the Spokane landmark would be ideal as a public market.
Last October, after a MarketPlace vendor suggested it, the Bonzons decided to take their customers’ advice.
“It was never my intention to create any rivalry between the two places,” Gailya Bonzon said. “The place is conducive to a marketplace. We’re little entrepreneurs and we can help other small businesses with this.”
The Bonzons, who purchased the building five years ago, have room for about 65 vendors on the first floor of the building. They plan eventually to move the antique mall to the basement and reserve the entire first floor for the market.
Before they receive city approval to start the market, the Bonzons need to make the building handicappedaccessible, as well as provide more parking.
If approved, the Schade Brewery Public Market would be open Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, but the Bonzons hope they can be open all week next summer and, eventually, all year.
“Later on, I could see a sign on the freeway that says, ‘Exit for Public Market,”’ Gailya Bonzon said. “The whole building could become like (Seattle’s) Pike Place Market.”
They also plan to charge vendors $20 a day.
The Bonzons sent 48 announcements for a meeting this Sunday for potential vendors. A number of people have expressed their interest in selling at the old brewery, Gailya Bonzon said. Some never have had a small business before. About 15 to 20 were vendors at the old MarketPlace location.
Randy Krupke, a former MarketPlace vendor from Reardan, Wash., plans to attend the Bonzons’ meeting.
He said he doesn’t like the plan for a new market at Riverfront Park.
“They seem to want to make the MarketPlace cute so that the convention center people have something to look at, so they have something else to put in a brochure,” he said. “They don’t think about the farmers.”
He thinks the proposed park location is inconvenient for farmers who have to unload up to two tons of products each morning, and then reload what doesn’t sell.
Krupke said he has no plans to return to the MarketPlace and will open a vegetable stand in Reardan if he can’t sell at the brewery location.
Culbertson thinks there’s enough room for two markets in Spokane.
“Having two marketplaces means more selection and competition,” he said. “Competition is healthy.”
Nan Konishi, who sells baskets, thread dolls and other crafts, is excited about the new location and plans to stick with the MarketPlace.
“I think (the Riverfront Park location) will be really nice for both the MarketPlace and the park. I like the atmosphere,” said Konishi, who has been with the market for the last three seasons. “Trafficwise, it can’t hurt MarketPlace vendors at all.”
xxxx Meetings MarketPlace board members will meet again with the Park Board’s Riverfront Park Committee on April 10 to discuss the proposal. The committee may recommend approval of the plan at that time. The Spokane Park Board will hold a public meeting on the proposal on April 13 at 1:30 p.m. in City Council chambers and may vote on the plan at that time. If it is approved, the outdoor market would open with 50 to 60 vendors on Bloomsday weekend, said Jackie Rappe, MarketPlace director.