Destination: Albert Lea hopes to persuade the Albert Lea Farmers’ Market to relocate to downtown, as part of its ongoing effort to bring new life to the city’s historic business district.

Wednesday, February 06, 2002

Destination: Albert Lea hopes to persuade the Albert Lea Farmers’ Market to relocate to downtown, as part of its ongoing effort to bring new life to the city’s historic business district.

DAL member Karen Trow said she’s contacted two members of the market’s board of directors to pitch the idea of holding the twice-weekly event in the parking lot at the corner of Water Street and Broadway, near Fountain Lake.

Trow said she’s done research on how to revitalize a downtown, and most books have the same recommendation: &uot;Every single one says one of the cheapest and fastest ways to restore a downtown is to get a farmer’s market downtown,&uot; she said.

Trow said the representatives she’s talked to are somewhat interested.

&uot;They’re open to possibly doing this,&uot; she said. &uot;Wal-Mart is restricting them a little more each year, making it a little bit harder for them.&uot; The market has been using the Wal-Mart parking lot at Skyline Mall in recent years

DAL members also said the market would likely need to move within a few years when Wal-Mart abandons its Skyline location in favor of a new Wal-Mart Supercenter on the east end of town.

Members were enthusiastic about getting a new attraction downtown.

&uot;It’s another way to get people downtown, where it’s beautiful, instead of in a parking low where nobody knows where downtown is,&uot; said Jean Eaton.

City Council Member Dave McPherson said the city would likely be willing to work with the market, possibly even providing trash receptacles and portable toilets. Weekends would probably be easy to accommodate, but on weekdays, when the parking lot is heavily used, the city might have reservations, he added.