Don’t miss the bus

Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak will help unveil plans for the new Midtown Public Market, a satellite of the Minneapolis Farmer’s Market set to open at the intersection of Lake and Hiawatha on July 12. The introductory event, Feb. 18 from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. at the Midtown YWCA, will offer a glimpse of both short- and long-range plans to establish an outlet for fresh produce, baked goods, and other wares adjacent to the Lake Street/Midtown light rail strip. The Midtown Public Market will be the Minneapolis Farmer’s Market’s second satellite, the first being the Nicollet Mall Farmer’s Market.

Plans for a market grew out of community planning efforts in the Longfellow and Corcoran neighborhoods which straddle the Hiawatha corridor. Neighborhood residents have taken to making the plan a reality. The organizing committee has raised all but $5,000 of its $75,000 budget to get the market launched. Says Amy Brock, Corcoran Neighborhood Organization’s Executive Director: “This is a project that came directly from neighborhood residents—and they’re the ones making it happen.”

The market is seen by many as a harbinger of the development potential the light rail line can bring to the city neighborhoods. According to Brock, the anticipation of light rail has a number of developers considering proposals for blocks on Lake Street adjacent to the rail line. “It’s a very exciting time for the area surrounding Lake and Hiawatha—I think the market, on the heels of the new YWCA, is just one in a series of improvements coming to the neighborhood as a result of the Hiawatha light rail line.”

At the Feb. 18 open house at the Midtown YWCA, Mayor Rybak, 9th Ward City Councilmember Gary Schiff and Minneapolis Farmer’s Market Board President Bonnie Dehn will introduce the Midtown Public Market to the community. Community leaders, potential vendors and interested neighborhood residents are invited to gather to learn more about the market.

The Midtown Public Market will be located at the site of the Minneapolis Public School’s Connection Center (formerly the Edison PPL school at 2225 E. Lake St.). Plans call for the Market to be open on Tuesday afternoons (3:30 – 7:30 p.m.) and Saturday mornings (8 a.m. – 12 p.m.) starting Sat., July 12, and running through Oct. 29. Organizers are expecting 25 – 50 initial vendors with space available for community nonprofits, local artists and the Minnesota and Wisconsin growers from the Central Minnesota Vegetable Growers Association.

Organizers are excited at the prospect of the Minneapolis Farmer’s Market coming to South Minneapolis. Brigid Riley, Standish Ericsson neighborhood resident and Co-Chair of the 14 member market advisory board, says finding volunteers for the effort hasn’t been a problem: “People are so excited about this because it will bring the affordability and vitality of the Minneapolis Farmer’s Market to a more convenient location—where we can easily bike, walk, or bus.” Riley says she hopes the market becomes “a regular meeting place for neighbors and a fun place to shop.”

The idea for the market grew out of Corcoran and Longfellow neighborhood residents’ planning efforts for the Hiawatha Light Rail Line. When asked what amenities they wanted in their neighborhood, residents identified a permanent public market similar to Seattle’s Pike Place Market adjoining the Lake St. / Midtown LRT station. Residents not only wanted something that would promote local small businesses and help family farmers, but an attraction that would lure light rail riders to stop and get out and shop.

Not waiting for developers or government agencies, residents decided to develop a seasonal farmer’s market in an effort to bring the site closer to their future goal of a year-round permanent market. Representatives from the Corcoran, Longfellow, East Phillips, Standish Ericsson, Bancroft, Powderhorn and Seward Neighborhood Organizations as well as from the Midtown YWCA and the Minneapolis Farmer’s Market comprise an advisory council for the market.
Initial funding for the Midtown Public Market has come from the Longfellow and Corcoran Neighborhood Organizations as well as the Minnesota Office of Environmental Assistance and McKnight Foundation.