Wichita’s two big farmers markets are both launching holiday-focused winter versions
Wichita’s two main farmers markets officially ended their summer seasons on Saturday.
But that doesn’t mean farmers market season is over.
Both the Old Town Farm & Art Market and the Kansas Grown Market that happens at the Sedgwick County Extension Center, 21st and Ridge, are continuing through the holiday season with different setups than they’ve had in recent years.
Old Town: Staying outside
The Old Town Farm & Art Market, which is put on Saturday mornings every April through October at the Farm & Art Market Plaza at First and Mosley, has for the past couple of years relocated its market indoors to the Wave Venue, 650 E. Second, through the cold weather months.
But this year, Wave is closed amid the COVID-19 pandemic. So the Old Town market is putting on special outdoor winter markets on the plaza, where patrons will be able to bundle up and shop for winter vegetables and holiday gifts while staying warm around fire pits with hot drinks in hand.
Luke Snow, the market’s manager, said that the winter markets will start on Saturday and continue the first three Saturdays of both November and December on the plaza. The hours for the winter market will be 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., which is later than the summer market but will give the weather time to warm up before people arrive.
The summer markets did well during COVID-19, Snow said, because they allowed people to shop outdoors and stay socially distanced. Because Wave is closed, and because the weather was so temperate in the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving and Christmas in recent years, he decided to give the outdoor winter market a shot.
“We want to give customers the opportunity to still have some outdoor events that they can go to and to do what we can to continue to support the vendors at the market,” he said.
The outdoor markets will also offer prepared food, live music and other activities.
The last winter market will be on Dec. 19, and then the market season will resume in April, he said. In recent years, he’s continued the markets indoors at Wave through March. But this year, the market won’t happen from January through March.
But when it reopens next spring, the Old Town market will be much larger, Snow said. It has permission to close down Rock Island all the way to Second Street on Saturday mornings next spring, and food trucks and vendors will fill that space, too.
“Now that they’ve closed the Downtown Urban Pop-Up Park for food trucks, they’re looking for additional space,” Snow said.
In addition, Snow is planning to put on smaller weekday markets on the plaza throughout the summer. He said he’d share more details as the summer farmers market season got closer.
Kansas Grown: Indoors, but more markets
This popular market also had its last installment of the season on Saturday, said Tricia Holmes, president of the market’s board.
Usually, the market continues through the winter with a one-Saturday-a-month installment inside the extension center.
But this year, organizers have decided to put on weekly Saturday markets starting on Nov. 28 and continuing each Saturday through Dec. 19, Holmes said. They’ll put on just one market in both January and February then resume the weekly indoor market through March.
Customers will be asked to wear masks and stay socially distanced while shopping inside, Holmes said. Vendors will bring winter vegetables and items that would be good for gifting.
“It will definitely be focused on the holiday season, with gift boxes and local jams and jellies and salsas and barbecue sauces,” she said.
Weather permitting, Holmes said, the market also could spill outside some Saturdays. The markets will be from 8 a.m. to noon.
This story was originally published November 5, 2020 at 12:05 PM.
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