The Red River Revel's Kip Holloway and Kevin Stone estimate 7500 people or better flowed through the Shreveport Farmer's Market on the morning of its '09 opening.
"We still have some fiddling to do, to make it more equitable for the artists and crafters and others in the outlying lot, but we're working on that. We were visited by over *5000* people yesterday, breaking all records. Given that huge amount of traffic, the opening was smooth," said market manager Noma Fowler-Sandlin.
She noted, "There are some logistical challenges to growing, shoving x number of vendors into y number of spaces, and getting folks to respect the handicapped parking spaces." The parking slots adjacent to the pavilion are no longer open to first-come, first-served vehicles. The area is reserved for handicapped parking.
Holloway cited the Slow Food Movement as a force that has directed attention to such markets.
The city's investment in the large, open pavilion would seem to have been quite a success, too.
Fowler-Sandlin cited many factors: "the music, videos, blogging, help from friends, participation from friends in the market and attending the market, great leadership and vast help from the Revel Staff (Kip Holloway, Kevin Stone, Christy Long, Jenifer Akers,) the City Staff, our sponsors, the vendors, the band, and even getting my husband to smile while he sold my jam, all serve to make this a great success for me personally."
- Saturdays, June 13 through September 5, from 7:00 a.m. to noon.
- Tuesdays in the months of June and July, there will also be a Tuesday market from 3 to 6 each afternoon featuring live music.
4 comments:
Thank you, Robert! It was a thrilling day for the market, its vendors, and its shoppers.
...and behold the official start of the handmade and locally grown movement in SB Land will be traced back to the opening day of the 2009 Shreveport Farmers' Market.
Watch out Austin, Portland and Seattle, here we come...here we are.
What have you created today? Make and buy stuff locally. Support the home grown homemade movement. Your granny was right!
If anyone would like to see what they missed, here's a great video and song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyzFdHEhfOw&feature=player_embedded
"smells like victory"
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