Greg Harder’s daughters chalked drawings on the road in the middle of the intersection at West Eighth and Esther streets, an open space the Vancouver Farmers Market has started calling the Market Square since shifting its layout north.
“We only made it down a single row of vendors. They just had to stop and play,” Harder said of Harley and Paige, 3 and 5 years old. “This market feels much bigger, much more like a community event. It was great in the past, but it feels like they’re trying to be more inclusive and manage larger crowds.”
The intersection serves as a crossroads for the market, and the open area has proven to be one of the best additions for visitors and vendors, said Vancouver Farmers Market Executive Director Jordan Boldt.
There are always challenges when an event organizer wants to shut down an intersection in downtown Vancouver. The closure can bring traffic issues, but so far, this change and others the market has introduced during its 30th season appear to be changes for the better, Boldt said.
Before the season began, the city of Vancouver asked the market to vacate West Sixth Street and set up just north of there, on segments of West Eighth Street on either side of Esther Street, plus a slice of Esther. The new arrangement takes the shape of a lowercase “t.”
The city asked the market to move to make room for downtown and waterfront development.
Farmers market officials told The Columbian in March that the changes would generate some protest, but they were excited about reinvigorating the whole scene. About two months into the season, Boldt said the move has positively changed the vibe of the market.
“It’s allowed us to mix things up a bit. We’ve moved folks around to new spaces, and it created what feels like a brand new market, even to a lot of our longtime customers,” Boldt said.
The downtown market features 250 vendors and is the second largest market of its kind in Washington. It’s also pet friendly.
The new placement gets many of the vendors out of the sun, as the trees along West Eighth Street at the north end of Esther Short Park offer an abundance of shade.
“It’s cooler. I think we’ve had better vendor attendance because of that,” he said.
Rebecca Kawanami, owner of River Wave Foods, said she has seen an increase in people coming to the market since the season began. Her space — where she sells her sauces, vinaigrettes and tapenades — is about midway down the east end of West Eighth Street directly under the coveted shade.
When Kawanami’s stall was on West Sixth Street, customers would often ask if she was a new vendor. She partly attributes people not remembering her business to the previous layout of the market. West Sixth Street was wide enough to host a middle row of vendors, something that’s not possible on Eighth.
“I think people would sometimes miss things with that layout. This is more inviting. It seems to have drawn more people,” said Kawanami, whose been selling her products at the market for at least nine years.
She also attributed Vancouver’s overall growth for the increase in customers, but said the changes at the market also play a part in the increasing number of people attending the weekend event.
The market had a blockbuster season in 2018 with 357,000 visitors, according to its own tally.
As of mid-May, nearly 130,000 customers have visited the market. Boldt said that’s 40 percent higher attendance versus the same time last season.
“That’s a pretty big deal for us,” he said.
Cory Chunn, owner of the popsicle cart Chunny Pop, is selling frozen treats at the market for a third summer. His space is next to one of the corners of Market Square; he’s really enjoying the spot, he said. In Chunn’s old location, the line could extend and block foot traffic, he said.
“It’s less crammed up here. That’s one of the changes that have brought more people. As a business, I want to grow. As the market is growing, we’re growing with it,” Chunn said.
