Strolling the McGolrick (Winthrop) Park farmers market is a Sunday tradition for many Greenpointers, and now that a section of the middle of the park is taken over by playground construction, with the available space reserved as a children’s play area, the market has had to move from its centrally located spot. As of a couple weeks ago, the Down To Earth Farmers Market is tightly lined up on the sidewalk on Monitor Street, at the back of the park where vendors say they’re not getting as much passerby foot traffic. Plus, many locals are used to walking through the center of the park and seeing the market, so a lot of people don’t even realize the market has moved.
Now some vendors and locals are supporting a petition to get the market moved back to the center of the park. From the petition:
“The farmers market in McGolrick park is more than just a place to shop for locally grown food. It is a place where our neighborhood hangs out on Sunday mornings. While listening to live music, we pick out beautiful fresh vegetables, try out an interestingly flavored pickle, sample homemade sauces, and take home a delicious pie with flowers for the table. But we also chat with each other, our children play, we meet new people, find out about activities in the neighborhood, or sit down at a table and eat our lunch. All this takes space! The cramped gauntlet of Monitor Street doesn’t compare to the circle of vendors set-up we had INSIDE the park. In this time when our park is under construction, it is especially important to have events where we can hang out together in the park. The signatures below ask for the Park Department to recognize the need for community events in park spaces. These signatures ask the Parks Department to grant the permit for the FARMERS MARKET to be INSIDE THE PARK.”
The playground construction is definitely causing some headaches in the neighborhood, and Greenpointers have noted that many days the bulldozed site sits without workers. If you support the Farmers Market moving back into the center of the park, sign the petition. Maybe this petition can put some heat on the Parks Department to dig up (no pun intended) a better solution.