Farmers market relocation to be discussed at meeting

Published 5:04 pm Tuesday, June 27, 2017

Some vendors at the Washington Farmers & Artisans Market are unhappy with the present location of the market.

That’s the message the Dot Moate delivered to the Washington City Council during its meeting Monday. Moate lives near the current market location in the city parking lot bounded by East Main, Bonner and Water streets. The market, operated by the Washington Harbor District Alliance, was relocated there this year because of improvements to Crab Park at the western end of Stewart Parkway, where the market had been located for several years.

During last Saturday’s market, several vendors expressed frustration with the current site to her, Moate said. She did not identify the vendors who complained to her. That day, an event was occurring at Festival Park, which hampered parking for market customers, she said. Also affecting customer traffic at the market is the absence of signs informing people where the market is located, she noted. Market vendors said those factors and the current location are resulting in fewer customers, according to Moate.

“We had two of three vendors leave before it was time to close up,” Moate said. The market operates from 8 a.m. to noon Saturdays during the spring, summer and early fall.

The vendors who complained suggested finding a new, better location for the market. They suggest closing off the section of Respess Street between the waterfront and Main Street on Saturdays and relocating the market there. City officials would have to approve such a move, according to City Manager Bobby Roberson, who plans to meet with WHDA leaders to discuss possible solutions to the problem.

Roberson said he would discuss the result of that meeting with the council at its July 10 meeting.

Councilman Doug Mercer said he understands it’s a WHDA goal to locate the market at an indoor location. Roberson said that issue would be discussed at the meeting involving city and WHDA officials. Mercer suggested keeping the market at its current location through this market season, with any new location being used for the 2018 market season.

About Mike Voss

Mike Voss is the contributing editor at the Washington Daily News. He has a daughter and four grandchildren. Except for nearly six years he worked at the Free Lance-Star in Fredericksburg, Va., in the early to mid-1990s, he has been at the Daily News since April 1986.
Journalism awards:
• Pulitzer Prize for Meritorious Public Service, 1990.
• Society of Professional Journalists: Sigma Delta Chi Award, Bronze Medallion.
• Associated Press Managing Editors’ Public Service Award.
• Investigative Reporters & Editors’ Award.
• North Carolina Press Association, First Place, Public Service Award, 1989.
• North Carolina Press Association, Second Place, Investigative Reporting, 1990.
All those were for the articles he and Betty Gray wrote about the city’s contaminated water system in 1989-1990.
• North Carolina Press Association, First Place, Investigative Reporting, 1991.
• North Carolina Press Association, Third Place, General News Reporting, 2005.
• North Carolina Press Association, Second Place, Lighter Columns, 2006.
Recently learned he will receive another award.
• North Carolina Press Association, First Place, Lighter Columns, 2010.
4. Lectured at or served on seminar panels at journalism schools at UNC-Chapel Hill, University of Maryland, Columbia University, Mary Washington University and Francis Marion University.