From the press release:
Portland, Ore., November 23, 2009 – Portland Farmers Market today announced its decision to permanently close the Thursday Ecotrust Market at 721 NW 9th Avenue located in the parking lot of the Jean Vollum Natural Capital Center. While Portland Farmers Markets’ four other locations experienced increased traffic and sales over the years, the Thursday Ecotrust Market did not share the same rate of growth.
The market which first opened in 2003 through a partnership with non-profit Ecotrust had been open 3:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Thursdays from June to September.
“The Ecotrust Market was located in a vibrant, densely populated neighborhood, and yet it never seemed to reach its full potential,” said Ann Forsthoefel, executive director of Portland Farmers Market, a nonprofit 501(c)6 organization operated by a small staff of four full-time and four part-time employees and numerous volunteers. “We thank Ecotrust for their partnership, Food Front Coop for their sponsorship and, of course, the dedicated shoppers that supported our local farmers and food artisans every Thursday.”
Deborah Kane, vice president Ecotrust Food & Farms, said, “We have much respect and admiration for the Portland Farmers Market. While Ecotrust staff will no longer have the option of buying some of the region’s best products right outside our door, we’ll continue to support local agriculture through initiatives such as Edible Portland and FoodHub. And of course we’ll be among the first in line at all of the other Portland Farmers Market locations.”
THE MARKETS ARE UP
The closing of this location isn’t a reflection of the state of farmers’ markets nationally. As of October 2009, there were 5,274 farmers markets registered in the USDA Farmers Market Directory and over the last decade there has been a 170% increase in farmers’ markets opening nationwide.
The staff of Portland Farmers Market is currently evaluating other possible locations for a weekly market in Northwest Portland. The organization describes the ideal site as one that offers high visibility, community engagement and support from neighborhood and business associations.
The Thursday Ecotrust Market was sponsored by Food Front Cooperative Grocery. Portland Farmers Market is generously supported by community partners West Coast Bank and Mix.
Park Blocks seems obvious, no?
I vote for one of those giant Con-Way parking lots off 21st.
That would be great!
Too bad, but since coming to Portland in 2005 I’ve watched this weekly market become less and less appealing — fewer vendors, less worth buying — with each passing year. I don’t think I saw a single melon of any sort for sale there even once this summer, for instance, and I remember stopping by in midsummer, thinking I’d get some nice fresh corn on the cob for dinner that night, and again, not an ear to be had.
Good spot for berries, though. I’d often see six or eight stands at a time selling berries there, and I’d think: Who could possibly eat so many berries?
It was an absolutely abysmal year for melons in NW oregon/SW washington. Remember that couple weeks of rain in late August? It caused most melon crops to split, leaving almost nothing worth harvesting. Its one of the harder things to grow on this side of the Cascades, really. I just hope most farmers don’t give up entirely on them!
Re: produce offerings or lack thereof, the shoppers weren’t there, so over the years, vendors didn’t make enough money selling fresh produce; they moved on.
The simple truth is that Pearl District residents never supported this market. Why I don’t really understand–it seemed like a natural. But their patronage was key for a market that happened just after work hours and into the dinner hours–right when folks should be getting home. When I was on the PFM board – it’s been a few years now – the absence of support for this market was always a source of wonder and consternation. Closure of the market is an idea that has been kicking around for a long time.
When the NW market was first opened by PFM 6 or 7 years ago, it was in the North Park Blocks. Problem was that the Parks Bureau decided basketball courts (courtesy of Nike) and bocce courts were a higher priority than the Market. Probably not the brightest long term idea, or what might happen if the decision were being made today, but that’s what happened then. I think a park-like setting is best, but don’t know if that’s a realistic possibility.
I’d love to see PFM relocate another NW Portland market. I’d really love to see the folks who live nearby support it. If there are enough buyers, there will surely be enough produce to buy.
–mcz
I guess it’s sort of a chicken-and-egg situation: I know lots of neighbors who would like to have been more supportive of the Ecotrust market. But from the customer’s perspective there just weren’t many vendors to support in the last couple of years. People on the other side say there were few vendors because there were few customers. Hence the fatal downward spiral the market got caught up in.
The other thing about the Pearl, of course, is that there are so many good restaurants packed so closely together there. When I get home at the end of a long, tiring day at work and my choices are to shop and cook dinner or dine out at any of two dozen nice restaurants within a 10-minute walk of my house … well, cooking @ home loses that battle more and more.
How about using The Fields? Doesn’t look like the park is anywhere near to being built … open space, visible, good use.
Re the farmers’ market @ EcoTrust … I agree with the previous comment: each week there were fewer and fewer choices of things to buy. The pate man stopped coming; we never had anything like Kookoolan chickens (have you ever fried potatoes and onions in Chrissie’s schmaltz?).
I suggest visiting Hillsdale’s Sunday market to see what works in a small space. Wonderful array of produce, meat, fish, breads & pastries and it seems somehow more exciting, exudes an energy, in its tightness. “Our” market always felt half empty. At least to me.
Hillsdale is a destination; EcoTrust was only on the way home.
And I don’t think late weekday hours are a good idea. How about trying Sunday?
Best Thanksgiving to all.Kat
The problem is Pearlites shop at Whole Foods. Ironic or not?
Lots of people shop at grocery stores and farmers markets, it’s not just a phenomenon of the Pearl. I think the challenge was having it on a weekday evening. That made it difficult for many to visit and shop. Given that, the vendors didn’t see a reason to come because of the low sales and the market just spiraled down. I agree that a weekend market would likely have fared better.
The market at SE 20th & Salmon, Thursday 3-7 has thrived. Why such a difference?
As a vendor of the Eastbank market, and as one who works in the Pearl, the difference between the markets is quite obvious: the customer base for the Eastbank market uses the market as a shopping center, whereas the Ecotrust market has been used largely to browse. While it’s certainly true that the past 2-3 seasons (or more) the vendor mix has been quite shallow, it was NOT always so. Multiple produce & protein vendors simply stopped participating at the market citing poor sales, leaving largely berry & flower vendors.
Several years ago, while participating at the Bite on the roof terrace at Ecotrust, I was involved in a lengthy conversation between a few market vendors & 4-6 folks from the neighborhood who were decrying the slippage of the market’s choices. When pressed, every one admitted that their Pearl homes didn’t have kitchens conducive for full-family cooking, and the plethora of restaurant choices made cooking even a few nights a week a tough sell. Contrast this to the neighborhood surrounding Eastbank that is filled with families who appear to cook more (based circumstantially on the volume of purchases we see families leaving the market with), and it’s clear that there are substantial demographic differences that allow one market to thrive while preventing another from even surviving.
I agree with Aaron & Mczlaw. It’s sheer nonsense to blame the market’s demise on the lack of produce vendors. Pearl & Eastbank started out in the beginning with the same number and quality of vendors. One took off, the other failed.
I work two blocks from EcoTrust and I didn’t make it to the Market once– late afternoon on a Thursday was just about the most inconvenient time for me and everyone I know in the neighborhood. I made it to the Saturday Park Blocks Market any time I could.
We at Food Front were happy to be a sponsor. We’d love to see a Farmers Market in our NW neighborhood.
yeah, i think sunday would fare much better, not saturday because of the big market at the park blocks…
I don’t think the problem with that particular market had anything to do with either the location or the day of the week. The fact was that the selection of available produce/food pretty well sucked. There’s weren’t enough vendors or adequate choices available. If there isn’t a critical mass of product, then I’d rather shop at my favorite market because we don’t have time to waste trucking to 3-4 distinct locations to find what we need. We visited this location quite a while back and with regret, decided that it wasn’t worth returning for that reason.