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F E AT U R E

To Market, To Marketby Roberta Brandes Gratz

Everywhere, the rush is on tofind the key to the rejuvenationof downtowns, town centers and neighborhoods. More often than not,localities look for the big splash – the stadium, convention center, entertain-ment complex, or some other large-scaleformula – the magicbullet that neverdelivers on its pre-sumed promise.Many communitiesare discovering,instead, a wholehost of modest,inexpensive, andreadily achievablealternatives. Thefarmers’ market isone.

Farmers’ mar-kets are probablythe most successfultool for the streng-thening or regener-ating of downtownsof any size, from thesmallest Main Streetto the most rubble-strewn inner city commercial center. Thepulse of life draws people to markets. Pro-viding fresh food is only part of a market’sappeal. Always lively, full of humandrama, rich in social interaction, andresplendent in changing color, marketsoffer vast opportunities for economicgrowth and entrepreneurial innovation.

MARKETS TAKE ROOT

Today, across America, so many mar-kets are taking root with great success andmultiple benefits that one does not needto go far to find an example from which tolearn. Twenty years ago, for example,fewer than 200 farmers’ markets existed.According to the USDA’s 2000 NationalFarmers’ Markets Directory, there are2,863 farmers’ markets operating in the

United States. This compares to 1,775 in1994 – a 61 percent jump in just six years.Farmers’ markets mostly occupy open airsites on plazas, streets, or parking lots,requiring very little site improvement andfinancial investment. According to thel996 USDA Farmers’ Market Survey Report,

Unlike single activity projects, publicmarkets serve a broad public purposebeyond the commercial function. Stimu-lating social interaction, fostering newlocal businesses, preserving historicbuildings, stabilizing downtown districtsor small commercial neighborhoods – any

number of publicgoals may combinein support of a pub-lic market.

Many marketsstill take place inold public markethalls, buildings thatoften evolved at the place whereproducers came tosell to consumers.Bringing producersand consumers to-gether again is acurrent public mar-ket goal.

Another varia-tion is the streetmarket. In streetmarkets, half shedscoming off the

facades of buildings along a whole streetcover the sidewalk. The classic example ofa street market is the 9th Street ItalianMarket in Philadelphia which runs alongsix blocks and spills over to neighboringstreets.

Each kind of market has its own ruleson who can sell what – and vary accordingto who runs them. At New York City’sGreenmarkets, for example, vendors maysell only what they grow or produce.Whatever their rules and personality, allmarkets can function as economicanchors and activity generators for other-wise desultory public spaces and commer-cial centers, drawing people downtown orto neighborhood centers who might oth-erwise not come.

While each market is different and

Fresh food – and fun – draws shoppers from South Philly and beyond to the Italian Market.

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fruit and vegetables alone account formore than $1.1 billion in sales.

Markets activate every place in whichthey occur. They provide a road map tothe regeneration of downtowns and reac-tivation of public places. Markets are theantithesis of stand-alone mega-projectsthat attract the car driving visitor in andout without adding to the strength of theplace.

Markets defy categorizing. Individual-ity and local personality distinguish eachfrom the other. Like authentic places, notwo are alike. Markets differ by productssold. Open-air farmers’ markets are themost basic and pure. They sell farm prod-ucts directly from the farm. Simple shedroofs provide shelter over many farmers’markets, and can allow for other events.

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drawn to the market on most Saturdays;100,000 during the May to November sea-son. The market grosses $1 million in pro-duce sales and provides an outlet for 350 farms. New businesses have alsogrown up around it, while older ones –some once quite marginal – have beenstrengthened.

Recently, the market created a com-mercial kitchen. Farmers can rent time inthe kitchen to produce value-added items,such as jams, apple products, and bakedgoods. This increases the opportunity for innovative entrepreneurial activity andadds to the economic diversity of the market.

The Pasco region is home to strongblack, Latino and Anglo-American groups.Historically, nothing overcame the divi-sions among them. Until the market. Herenow is a regular place where they mix andmingle harmoniously.

Across the country from Pasco in

cannot be reduced to a formula, what theyhave in common is a comfortable, humanscale. They offer an appealing alternativeto the increasingly standardized retaillandscape. Though first and foremostdesigned to serve a local clientele, marketsalso attract out-of-town visitors. The birthof new small local enterprises is often aspin-off of markets adding to the localeconomy.

At markets, shopping is an event not achore. The scent of the season’s freshestfare teases the senses. A melon sellerinstructs a shopper how to determine aripe one. A farmer offers a listener afavorite recipe. Elderly patrons share sto-ries of times past with farmers and offerwords of wisdom to young cooks. Busi-ness people meet and munch while theywalk and talk. People watchers watch.Shoppers sample new produce as theyponder an unresolved menu. Friendsmeet and mingle while strangers en-counter each other on neutral territory.

The multiple levels of activity are end-less. A more egalitarian activity center ishard to find. Diversity and social interac-tion are revived, the kind of street life andeconomic activity that once typifieddowntowns.

MARKETS ACROSS AMERICA

Markets come in all shapes and sizesand produce varied impacts. In Pasco,Washington, a market started when alocal businessman, concerned about thedeteriorated condition of downtown,sponsored the first Cinco de Mayo Festi-val inviting area farmers to participate.Success led to construction by the city oftwo simple, but permanent, steel sheds on

a parking lot (thatremains a parkinglot on non-marketdays).

The festival wasrenamed the FieryFood Festival inrecognition of Pas-co’s distinction asthe largest areagrower of chili pep-pers. Attendance mushroomed. Now,about 6,000 are

The Pasco, Washington, Farmers’ Market brings farmers and shopperstogether each week.

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Located in the heart of downtown Burlington,Vermont, next to City Hall Park, the Saturday farmers’market has steadily grown over the past few years. In response, the City recently enlarged the sidewalkarea to make access easier.

Columbus, Ohio, the North Market, locat-ed in the gritty “Short North” warehouseneighborhood, has been a catalyst for thearea’s extraordinary rejuvenation. Similar-ly, in West Philadelphia, the FirehouseMarket (housed in an abandoned 1903red brick firehouse), helps anchor amixed-income, racially-integrated neigh-borhood struggling to strengthen itselfafter decades of disinvestment. Similarstories can be heard in a growing numberof communities nationwide.

NEW YORK’S GREENMARKET

Union Square Park’s Greenmarket inNew York City exhibits all the positiveattributes a city could want. The persis-tent vision of one man, Barry Benape,Greenmarket opened in 1976 with only afew farmers and amidst official skepti-cism. Union Square – an historic and oncebeautiful city park – was at that point thehangout for drug dealers and criminalsand bereft of any vibrant urban life.

Greenmarket gradually displacedunsavory users, proving the enduring les-son that the best way to make publicspaces safe and appealing is to provide anattractive activity. New restaurants startedopening nearby. Proprietors and chefsfound easy access to farm fresh productsirresistible. The undervalued, under-occu-pied variety of old commercial and indus-trial buildings started filling up with newtenants. Young people nested. New andmodest-sized businesses found officespace. Night life got livelier, the neighbor-hood more chic. Now the area is oftenreferred to as the restaurant districtbecause of the proliferation of stylish,popular restaurants in the vicinity.

The city followed Greenmarket’s estab-

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New York City’s Greenmarket triggered the revivalof the Union Square area.

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Large numbers of customers enjoy shopping the large variety offered at the Anne Arundel County Farmers Market.

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Loaded with produce for the Anne Arundel County, Maryland, Farmers Market. From left to right: ediblesoy beans, green peppers, potatoes, tomatoes, white eggplant and green beans.

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counties in New York, New Jersey, andConnecticut is clear. Sixteen thousandacres of farmland are represented. Two-thirds of the acreage is in vegetables andthe remainder in orchard fruit. Forest,pasture, and water resources producingsyrup, dairy products, meat, and fish arenot included, nor are greenhouses. Thiswas Barry Benape’s original goal when hestarted the Union Square Greenmarket.“The best part,” Benape adds with greatsatisfaction, “is that the children of thesefarmers are now helping to run the farmsor taking over the operation,” instead ofleaving altogether. Now experts all overthe country acknowledge the significant

lishment with a major renovation of UnionSquare Park which officially today is usedto explain the area’s stupendous rebirth.But the fact is the market was the catalyst.All else followed. While Greenmarketstarted in Union Square, it now has 19 yearround markets around the city, and anoth-er 20 seasonal ones, with 162 farmers andfood producers participating.

Perhaps most significant of all is theimpact of New York’s Greenmarkets – andfarmers’ markets across the country – onthe preservation of small farms. In theGreenmarket office is a giant topographi-cal map with blue-tipped pins locating thepoints of origin for Greenmarket produce.The impact of the market on the farm

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Others will fail. But the failures will besmall and the successes potentially large.Starbucks started in a hole-in-the-wall atthe Pike Place Market in Seattle.

Markets offer urban vitality, street life,and quality of life all rolled into one. Nocenter, large or small, can be revived with-out genuine street life which is whyinward-directed and isolating projects failto generate vibrant urban activity.

Farmers’ markets, however, are not forthe planners and policymakers who insistthat only costly mega-projects can make adifference. Markets make sense with therecognition that urban rejuvenation is

On-Line Comments

“What a thought provokingarticle. As the author indicates, using a farm-ers’ market as an economic development toolseems to defy those typical ‘grandiose eco-nomic development plans’ of plopping down a stadium or convention center.

Plan commissioners and planners shouldreview their zoning ordinances to ensure that‘farmers’ markets’ are even allowed in theircommunities, and if so, in the zoning districtsthey deem appropriate for such development.I’ve seen outdated zoning ordinances wherethese facilities are only allowed in agriculturalzoning districts. In one city that I worked in,there is a thriving farmers’ market adjacent to awell designed strip center with restaurant andspecialty shops. Since the property is zoned forcommercial use, the farmers’ market is deemeda non-conforming use. Although the ownershave wanted to expand or move the location of the market on the property, they have beenprevented from doing so because the zoningordinance prohibits the expansion of a non-conforming use. In another city that I workedin, ‘farmers’ markets’ were not specially listedand were deemed to fall under the category of‘roadside stands,’ again only allowed in agricul-tural districts.”

– Theresa R. Koehler, AICP, Koehler Consulting,Peoria, Illinois

“I am a regular shopper and volunteer atmy local farmers’ market, in the HollywoodNeighborhood in Portland, Oregon. It is aweekly event in a parking lot that brings morestreet life to this area than any other event. Ipersonally feel it, almost single-handedly, isleading to a renewed awareness of the opportu-nity for pedestrian-oriented, neighborhoodscale retail in this area in addition to bringing

the relationship of local farm production tourban residents ‘home’ to the participants.

I caution, however, about describing thefarmers’ market as a ‘silver bullet,’ for down-towns. … I feel the spaces dedicated to mar-kets must be multiple use and that otherplanning efforts, programmed activities, andcommunity development efforts are requiredto capitalize on the revitalization potentialmarkets offer.

I would also note that my research withWashington State’s farmers’ market association,based in Seattle, indicates that farmers’ mar-kets do fail … when they make mistakes inretailing. The primary failures are inconsistentschedules, locations, and offering of products;poor education as to product availability; poorcapitalization on the qualities of the products(organic, locally grown) relative to supermar-kets; poor diversity of products; high prices;and lack of good, consistent, high-qualityadvertising.

Communities should start small and focuson building a relationship between the farmersand the urban buyers. Adding some entertain-ment and food (e.g., hot dog carts, coffeestands) to a diverse range of produce and otherfarm products is the germ of a vital, successfulfarmer’s market. The market is also a goodplace for structured community outreach andinformation dissemination from a variety ofnon-profits, and possibly city agencies.”

– Sean Batty, ASLA, Portland, Oregon

“We here in the Baltimore, Annapolis,Washington D.C. megalopolis are strugglingwith rampant and inappropriate suburbansprawl and out-of- sight upward spiralinginfrastructure costs. For the past twenty years,we have operated a farmers’ market on the outskirts of Annapolis (see photos on page 11).This market is among the most successful inMaryland. Our approach to the farmers’ market concept is less that of a tool for urban

revitalization but more as a vehicle to containsprawl – to promote ‘smart growth.’ As long asa farmer can make a good living off the land,the farming enterprise will continue. If thefarmer cannot make a good living, the landwill fall to sprawling suburbia.

We find that the most important factors fora healthy farmers’ market are access (both forthe farmer and the customer), product variety,and good management. In other words, if it isgood business for the farmer, the market willsucceed.”

– Helen N. Perry, Treasurer, Anne Arundel Coun-ty (Maryland) Farmers’ Market & Peter M.Perry, Land Use and Zoning Chair, Small AreaPlanning Committee for Comprehensive Rezoning(Anne Arundel County).

“I am the manager of a small farmers’ mar-ket in downtown Durham, North Carolina.Our market is the result of several youngwomen persisting in establishing a market tosell their flowers and vegetables in Durham.Two years ago the right connection was madeand a public space was obtained. … Nearlyhalf of our customers are Latino and AfricanAmerican downtown residents. Durham’sdowntown has been viewed with fear by thewhite middle class residents and an effort tochange that both in perception and reality hasbeen made. I know that our farmers’ market,which requires that all vendors grow what theysell, has something unique to offer the diversecommunity in Durham.

This year we anticipate having a youthgroup participate during the market season. Acommunity gardening organization in Durhamcalled ‘SEEDS’ is creating this entrepreneurialopportunity for high school kids to grow andsell produce. I am excited about this connec-tion between food and its origin for kids.”

– Elizabeth Gibbs, Manager, Farmers’ Market,Durham, North Carolina

impact on farmland preservation of farmmarkets.

SUMMING UP:

The interactive web of urban con-sumer and rural farmer contains endlesslayers of positive impacts unmatched bystandard renewal schemes. This is eco-nomic development at its best, stimulat-ing a solid market-based process in whichnew, mostly local, businesses open inresponse to the market’s success. Thenumber and nature of the spin-offs can not be predicted. Some will succeed.

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more about process and people thanabout projects. The process is organic andunfolds in modest steps, and involves awide range of community members. Butmore often than not, it works. ◆

Roberta Brandes Gratzis an urban critic, lectureron development issues, andauthor of Cities Back Fromthe Edge: New Life forDowntown (with NormanMintz) and The LivingCity: Thinking Small in aBig Way (both published by John Wiley & Sons). Mintz & Gratz