Bowden Park at Cedar Park Approved

The Park Commission meeting this week was held Monday, September 12, 2011 at 7 pm at the Aldermanic Chambers. This public meeting was the end to a long awaited decision for a final location for the farmers’ market.   

This is really great news for the farmers’ market. The park will serve as a nice shaded location for the market and provide an area where people can gather and meet with their neighbors every week. We also hope to bring some attention to the businesses already in this area which haven’t seen as much attention as they deserve. This nice quiet location will allow people to leisurely stroll through the park while they shop for their fresh, locally sourced fruits, vegetables, meats, fish, breads and all sorts of things.  

It has been a long journey for the farmers’ market to be able to have a permanent location that is more pleasant for market goers. The market location at the parking lot behind City Hall was good for its central location, but it was complicated by the fact that it took parking spaces that would be used by market goers. In addition, not all car drivers observed the barricades designating the market the night before, making the market set up complicated. There were also debris that needed to be cleaned up before each market day else making for a most unpleasant experience for the market goers.

But the locations we had first thought most suitable for the farmers’ market were not necessarily the best for everyone. For example, This location, currently used by the Farm Direct Coop CSA drop off on Thursdays and would have been delighted to share the space with like-minded activities, was turned down by the Park Commission for the farmers’ market at the July 19, 2010 public hearing  due to the conflict with the sports teams that use the parking lot during the school year.  Our second choice, the Mary Foley Park on W. Foster and Myrtle, at the May 10, 2011 public hearing due to the concern voiced from the Mary Foley family members for the traffic conflict with the St. Mary’s school as well as parking concerns from Blue Bell Cleaners and the 340 Main St. condominiums.

On behalf of the farmers’ market managers, I would like to thank the Park Commission for allowing us the opportunity to voice four additional locations at this week’s public hearing for the market; the Dick Lyon Tennis Courts on Tremont and Lynn Fells, the Gazebo at Ell Pond on Main Street, Bowden Park at Cedar Park and W. Emerson, and the old location at the City Hall parking lot.  These locations were described in my last blog post ‘‘ August 10, 2011.   Discussions with various people over the month of August revealed additional information about these locations.  

The parking at Bowden Park is made easier by the ability to use the municipal parking lot used by the commuter rail travelers across the street from Cedar Park after 12 pm according to Sgt. Goc. This parking lot facilitates parking in this area - I observed 17 empty spaces last Friday at 2 pm when the market would be starting. According to Matt Hennigan, Asst. City Planner, the City Hall parking lot was made complicated by the parking study recommendations that would create business permit parking in the area where the market was held last year.  Denise Gaffey, Melrose City Planner, wrote a letter to the Park Commission confirming that this was the case with the City Hall parking lot but also stated if the parking lot were selected by the Park Commission, they would re-evaluated their recommendations. Melrose Patch

There were more than a dozen people who attended the public hearing voicing their opinion on the location of the market, as well as more than a dozen more emails to the Park’s Department who could not attend the meeting. Finally, homes and businesses within 300 feet of all four locations were sent out by the Park’s Department more than three weeks prior to the public hearing. 

We owe a great deal of gratitude to the Park’s Department and the Park Commission for their help to the farmers’ market in finding a permanent location.  There was a lot of effort that went into the notifications of all the locations.  The Park Commission was very professional in making sure that all voices were heard.  The Park’s Department was very supportive to the market managers in helping them get the information needed for the market location.

We would also like to thank the Mayor’s office who sat with us on a few occasions to help us suss out which location would be suitable for Melrose.  They even enlisted the summer interns to provide their own recommendations on the location for the farmers’ market.  And a special thanks to  Marybeth Margolis, Alderman-at-large, who provided some needed assistance in finding a location for the farmers’ market. 

We will complete this year’s farmers’ market on the front lawn of the First United Methodist Church at 645 Main St. Next year, we will be excited to begin June 14, 2012, at our new home!