After Tuesday’s Denton City Council meeting that included an hour-long discussion on the Denton Community Market, founders Kati Trice and Vicki Oppenheim stepped out in the cool November air to check out two sites city officials presented as possible locations to relocate the market.
While the market has enjoyed success at its location in the Denton County Historical Park, it is simply outgrowing the space and needs to be somewhere it can continue to flourish.
“We’re weighing all the options at this point and figuring out what is going to be best for us,” Trice said.
The market, which started in 2010 in the Denton County Historical Park at Carroll Boulevard and Sycamore Street, is an artists and farmers’ market that includes music, local food, handmade items such as purses, jewelry and clothing, and kids activities.
The two locations the city offered were the lot across the street from City Hall and a spot at the corner of East Hickory and Exposition streets, the latter of which Trice said she was not feeling good about.
“I don’t know it if is big enough. It’s not on any major road and kind of tucked back there,” Trice said of the location council member Jim Engelbrecht suggested.
Trice said the market needs to be in a place with medium to high visibility and said across the street from City Hall looked to be the best option.
“I appreciate Councilman Dalton Gregory’s suggestions of erecting some sort of shed or some sort of open structure that could be a covering for market vendors. Kind of imagining what Coppell has,” Trice said. “It would be a step in the right direction for us.”
Still on the table is the inside of the Denton Civic Center, Trice said.
There are three more weeks of the market this season with the last day being the holiday market on the Nov. 29. The market will then resume in April.
Oppenheim said she was hoping for a park site, particularly Quakertown Park. But as it said in reports from the staff, the city is against that option due to the other events held in the park, the wear on the grass and fees associated with holding events there.
“I don’t know if either of them will work or if we end up staying at the existing county site,” Oppenheim said.
The market is going to need some help if the intent is to remain on county property.
Oppenheim said talks are underway with Denton County Commissioner Andy Eads and Peggy Riddle, executive director of the Denton County Office of History and Culture, to possibly remove some pavement in the park site and add some green space and possibly adding some more outdoor electrical outlets.
“It would also help them as well at being able to have other events and other things there,” Oppenheim said. “As it is now, we’re definitely at capacity.”
City officials have no timetable for the completion of their study, said Emerson Vorel, director of parks and recreation, but he noted that it was a high priority for staff and officials.
“I believe the community market is a good feature for the city to support,” he said. “As the parks director, I’m not strongly supportive of placing it in a park, but the event itself, we’ll be glad to support.”
BJ LEWIS can be reached at 940-566-6875 and via Twitter at @BjLewisDRC.
