PORT ANGELES — After two weeks at The Gateway pavilion, the Wednesday Port Angeles Farmers Market will make the downtown transit center its home.
The farmers market board members decided unanimously Friday evening to hold the Wednesday market in The Gateway pavilion at 125 E. Front St., on a permanent basis, beginning this week, said Michele d’Hemecourt, market manager.
“We are very excited that the market will be at The Gateway,” she said.
The board used comments from vendors and customers to come to that decision, d’Hemecourt said.
Only one vendor preferred the Wednesday’s market’s former location at a private parking lot at First and Laurel streets, she said.
“It was pretty unanimous.”
The market had 18 vendors June 17 and 17 vendors last Wednesday.
The city of Port Angeles’ rate for renting the pavilion is $75 a day. The cost to the market for renting its former location was $50 a day.
Despite the higher cost — and some difficulties with setting up the market due to limited vehicle access — the move is worth it because of the market’s high visibility at The Gateway, higher foot traffic, the pavilion’s architecture, and the availability of public restrooms, d’Hemecourt said.
“We had so many people there that think the same,” she said.
And because of the positivity feedback, d’Hemecourt and the board are working with the city to set up two free trials for the Saturday market at The Gateway, probably in August.
Larger market
The challenges that faced the Wednesday market are likely to be exacerbated by the larger Saturday market, which had 27 vendors last week and 33 vendors June 20.
The Wednesday market was able to overcome the limited vehicle access by staggering the times that vendors drove in and set up their tents. This required vendors to arrive several hours early to open at 3 p.m.
The idea of arriving several hours early for the 10 a.m. opening of the Saturday market was not attractive to Denise Brennan, owner of Princess Valiant Coffee.
“To me it’s an incredible waste of time,” she said.
“We are going to have to load in on trucks or hand trucks, or show up hours in advance to get in one at a time.”
Brennan said she is also concerned about where the vendors will be able to park.
During the Wednesday market’s trial, many vendors parked in the free 3-hour parking spaces at The Gateway, and had to stay parked there for more than the time allotment.
Vendors for either market will have to pay for a permitted space at The Gateway, at $15 a month, move their vehicles from The Gateway’s free spaces after three hours, or find long-term parking elsewhere downtown, d’Hemecourt said.
Brennan said she doesn’t know if she will give The Gateway a try.
“I have to really think about what would make it work for my business,” she said.
Other Saturday market vendors said they are concerned about problems with setting up in the morning and where to park afterward, but added that they are willing to give it try.
“I think we will get used to it,” said Sharon Nott of Fried Bread.
Nott also is a vendor at the Wednesday market, and said she likes the change in location.
“It appears we had more business, as far as customers,” she said, referring to The Gateway.
But making it work for the Saturday market is going to depend upon some creative planning, d’Hemecourt admits.
“On paper, it looks like it can work,” she said.
“It might restrict us a little” in growth.
The farmers market has determined that the pavilion allows for a maximum of 36 vendors, d’Hemecourt said.
If the vendors at the Saturday market approve of The Gateway after a two-week trial, d’Hemecourt said the market may be able to expand onto the sidewalk or elsewhere outside of the pavilion as it grows.
But that’s dependent upon approval from the city, she said.
“If we can work that out, The Gateway could be a great location,” d’Hemecourt said.
If the Saturday market is moved to The Gateway, it would be first time in more than three years that it has been located downtown on a permanent basis.
The Saturday market moved to the Clallam County Courthouse parking lot, at 223 E. Fourth St., after it was no longer allowed to close a block of Laurel Street.
The City Council voted not to extend the market’s permit to close the street in December 2005 after eight downtown business owners claimed the closure disrupted the traffic flow and hurt their sales.
One of those business owners, City Council candidate Edna Petersen, said at a forum Tuesday that she is happy to see the market at The Gateway.
“The farmers market never looked so good as it did last week in downtown Port Angeles,” she said.
“The Gateway, as much as it’s tossed around, last week. it was a community asset with the farmers market there.”
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
