Officials with the Clark County Farmers Market are trying to figure out where they’re going to set up shop this spring and summer after being removed from their longtime home at Preservation Park, off Market Street in Jeffersonville.

The park is under construction, as city officials are turning it into a place to show off a environmentally friendly infrastructure projects. It’s being re-graded, so that rainwater drains off it better. Rain gardens, capable of soaking up more stormwater, are being planted. And pervious pavers — interlocking stones with a layer of gravel beneath that allow water to seep through rather than run off — are being installed.

Farmers Market officials weren’t happy with the forced move, but say they’re trying to be understanding.

“We wish the project coordinators would have included the Clark County Farmers Market in their plans at Preservation Park, where we would have preferred the market remain, but the farmers market committee has decided to keep a positive outlook and move forward,” said Jay Ellis, executive director of Jeffersonville Main Street, which administers the market. “If you move around a farmers market a lot, it can hurt the market,” Ellis said. “It confuses people.”

The work that’s taking place at the park is related to recent negotiations with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Indiana Department of Environmental Management. Officials opted to spend $118,000 on changes at the park in lieu of paying fines that it been levied against the city for violations of the U.S. Clean Water Act.

Trucks traversing the park lawn for the market caused some of the drainage problems by creating ruts and soft areas in the park, said Peggy Duffy, vice president of Construction Solutions, engineer and consultant on the project. Putting them on the park’s lawn again would be harmful to the regrading work, she said.

Generally speaking, Ellis said, the vehicles wouldn’t park on the lawn during the market. However, farmers would pull trucks onto the lawn to unload their produce when getting set up.

He said he talked to farmers about carrying their produce from a parking area to the park, but most didn’t like that idea.

“We were surprised. We had no idea that was in the plans. We’re scrambling around trying to figure out what to do now,” said Jackie Fouts, who sits on the market board and regularly sells produce there.

She said she’s hopeful that the market will not be harmed and the move will simply attract more publicity to it, bringing more customers out.

“Personally, it was frustrating, but we realize we need to move on and find another location,” said Charlestown farmer David Crum, also a board member.

The farmers are examining a number of factors when considering new locations: “We need parking. We need visibility,” Crum said.

Shade also is important, he noted, both for the produce and the customers who come out to shop.

Fouts said the board has talked about a couple of church parking lots and the Quartermaster Station development that contains Jeffersonville City Hall, but nothing has been decided. She’s hopeful market officials can find a place more visible than Preservation Park.

Ellis said very few contacts have been made at this point.

Duffy said the city is willing to help the farmers market find a new location. She also notes that there will be signs posted at the park, directing residents to the new location, once construction is complete there.

“The places being evaluated right now are not far at all,” Duffy, who also co-chairs Jeffersonville’s City Pride committee, said.

Additionally, she notes that city officials are considering U.S. Department of Agriculture grants which could help them promote the market more than it had been in the past.

Long-term, Duffy said the farmers market fits into the city’s plans for a canal district. Mayor Tom Galligan has proposed the development of a new downtown waterway as a means of correcting flooding problems.

He’s also said that it would spur economic development, as hotels and restaurants would front its banks. Duffy said a large space could be designated for a farmers market.

“The farmers market is directly in line with the goals of the canal district,” said Duffy. “It’s certainly not going to go by the wayside.”

The timetable for completion of the canal project is 10 to 15 years, however.

Ellis notes that the market has survived moves before: It had been located at Warder Park a decade ago, prior to improvements being made there.

“We did the same thing back then. We looked around and Preservation Park just came to the top of the list,” he said.



SO YOU KNOW

• WHAT: Winter Farmers Market

• WHERE: First Presbyterian Church gymnasium, 222 Walnut St., Jeffersonville.

• WHEN: 9 a.m. to noon., each Saturday

• WHAT’S ON SALE: Baked good, tomatoes grown in greenhouses and some late-season produce, plus poultry, honey and jellies.

• MORE INFORMATION: Call 812-283-0301.



ONCE IT’S WARM AGAIN

• The summertime farmers market generally runs between May and October. During May, it’s open Saturday mornings only. Then, once June begins, it operates on Saturday mornings and Tuesday afternoons in Jeffersonville.