Despite some uncertainty about the amount of space available, the Albert Lea Farmer’s Market will be moving downtown this spring, summer and fall.

Tuesday, February 26, 2002

Despite some uncertainty about the amount of space available, the Albert Lea Farmer’s Market will be moving downtown this spring, summer and fall. The organizers received permission from the city to relocate from the parking lot at Skyline Mall. Their new location will be the northern half of the city-owned parking lot at North Broadway.

The possibility of moving to a new location had been discussed a couple of years before. The expansion of Wal-Mart’s garden center had restricted the space available to the market, and safety was becoming more of a concern for both vendors and customers, said Verlys Huntley, a member of the Albert Lea Farmer’s Market Board.

&uot;Their garden center expanded and they needed the space, so we kept getting pushed to the side,&uot; she said. Huntley said Wal-Mart had always been good to them in the past, but that space was just getting too cramped – for both the market and for Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart also put some restrictions on what vendors could sell, she said. Potted plants and pumpkins were among the items that couldn’t be sold at the Farmer’s Market as long as it was located near Wal-Mart.

When representatives of Destination: Albert Lea brought up the possibility of locating downtown earlier this year, the members of the market decided to pursue it.

There is uncertainty, however, about how to allow the Farmer’s Market and downtown businesses and residents to use the same parking lot. Reserving the parking lot exclusively for the use of the market on those days and at those times may create some problems, for both city officials and for market organizers. The Wednesday afternoon and evening time are a source of special concern.

&uot;We can’t provide a guarantee that there won’t be any cars parked in there,&uot; said Paul Sparks, city manager. And council members agreed. The parking lot will be blocked off late mornings on Wednesdays and by 8 a.m. on Saturdays, but the parking lot is a long-term parking area, with parking allowed overnight. If someone leaves their car overnight or all day, the city won’t tow it if it’s still in the lot when it’s time for the farmer’s market to open, said Sparks.

Keeping the lot free of vehicles is important to Huntley, though, because it affects the layout of the market. Each vendor is assigned a specific space, she said, and if a car happens to be in that space, then there is a problem.

Mary Ellen Johnson, a Destination: Albert Lea officer and owner of a downtown business who parks in the North Broadway parking lot every day, said that the lot in question isn’t that heavily used most of the time. There would probably be few problems with closing off part of the lot to help reserve the area for the market, she said.

The city will loan traffic cones to the market, to use for that purpose, and may look into signs telling motorists that one part of the parking lot will be closed to parking for part of the day on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Everyone involved may simply need a few weeks to get used to the new arrangements, said Johnson.

Now that the city has given its approval, the market will be in the downtown location starting this spring, on Wednesdays from 4 to 7 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Along with the parking lot space and traffic cones, the city will also provide a couple of portable toilets and trash cans.