WACO, Texas — The Waco Saturday Farmers Market started near I-35 right where Baylor's new Foster Pavilion is before moving to the parking lot across from the McLennan County Courthouse.
In March 2025, it will move again to the Bridge Street Plaza, located at 200 E. Bridge St in East Waco, and opinions from the community are split on the market moving to a new place after eight years.
"I do not want to move the market," Ed Waldron, a vendor, told 6 News. "There is no reason to move the market. Moving it to a smaller place with no parking, in an area of town that they've tried to revitalize since at least the 80's. It hasn't happened."
"I think that this would be a really awesome change," said Zachary Daniel, a customer who often attends the event. "It started over by the river and it was really tucked away and people showed up you know, we had a really successful farmers market when it was hidden by the river and I think that we'll continue to have success over there."
Some vendors were upset that they had not been given a voice in the decision to move.
"No thought to what the vendors had to say about this and so we have a lot of questions," vendor Caroline Lawson told 6 News. "I’m not saying that it's a bad location but there are a lot of things that I see as a problem over there. There's not much infrastructure over there."
Bethel Erickson, the Executive Director of the Waco Downtown Farmers Market, said the courthouse has always been a temporary 7-year stop gap, and that many vendors' concerns are being dealt with before the move on March 1.
"We have plenty of time to plan out logistics for the actual move, come up with creative parking plans and even work with Parks and Rec and the City Council to design shade that can accommodate our guests and our vendors," Erickson said.
Some residents said they are concerned the move is politically motivated.
"I believe that there is some conflict of interest because there is one person I understand on our board of directors that is also sitting on the city council," Lawson said. "And they did vote to allow us to move over there, so I’m not sure about a lot of stuff. And who owns the farmers market?"
Other residents are concerned over the practicality of the move.
"I have 3 major concerns with it," Rebecca Curci, owner of Bees Greens, told 6 News. "First and foremost is ADA Compliance is not up to code in that area, so on all of the cross streets it will not be safe for anyone who needs that kind of walking space to have it available. The next really hard problem that I have with it is that we will be losing 800-plus parking spaces from moving from this location to that location and the third, not as big of a deal, is that there is absolutely no shade in the area."
Erickson said the City will have "plenty" of meetings leading up to the move and a Q&A for vendors who have specific questions. The City will also reportedly go over logistics in January 2025 and push out a marketing plan to inform the community.
Erickson said she is glad the market will service the community and not so much be an appeal to tourists, which she says will help provide more Waco residents with access to food.
The Waco Farmers Market is also held on Wednesdays at Bridge Street Plaza in the location the Saturday markets will move to.
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