Flint Farmers Market making move downtown

The venerable Flint Farmers Market is moving downtown to the site of the former Flint Journal printing facility after spending 74 years at its present North Side location.

The planned spring 2014 move was announced March 8 by Uptown Reinvestment Corp, the nonprofit that manages the Farmers' Market.

Uptown completed a $1.6 million purchase in 2012 that included the old Flint Journal printing facility, and Tim Herman, president of Uptown and CEO of the Genesee Regional Chamber of Commerce, says as early as June of that year that the building was being considered as a new site for the Farmers Market.

When announcing the move on March 8, Herman says the time had come to pull the trigger.

"The current market is bursting at the seams," Herman says of the site that houses 30 vendors inside the building year-round and 50 more from May to October. "Once the renovations are complete, the new Flint Farmers' Market will occupy more than double its current footprint to 32,000 square feet.

"More people will be exposed to fresh, locally grown foods … The new market will rival the nation's leading small city markets."

There will be several opportunities at the new site that are not available at the current location. The downtown site will have a commercial kitchen and will feature a large meeting room that seats more than 200. There are plans for cooking demonstrations and culinary classes.

The Farmers Market move marks the end of an era that stretches more than seven decades.

World War II was in full swing in 1940 when the market moved to its current location at 420 E. Blvd. Drive. The average cost of a new house was $3,920, and a new car cost about $850. The world has changed greatly since the market began doing business at its current site, and now the market's location will change, as well.

The move actually is a relocation to the city center. The market first opened downtown in 1905 before being moved to the North Side location in 1940. Dick Ramsdell, manger of the market, acknowledges that the announcement of the 2014 move is one that might take some getting used to.

"Many people have memories of the market at its current location," Ramsdell says. "There is history, ambience and a country-like quietness at the location alongside the river, all of which hold a great attraction.

"However, we are hopeful that the public will embrace the fact that moving into a new and much larger facility offers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the market and its vendors to take a significant step into the future."

The relocation of the market is just one part of a proposed $32 million downtown redevelopment project that includes the entire Flint Journal building. The demolition of the adjacent, vacant Genesee Towers--scheduled to be complete before the Farmers Market moves--is part of the redevelopment project.

Jeff Barr is a freelance writer who has lived in Michigan for 46 years. You can reach him via email.