A Masterpiece in the Madding Crowd
I just had a vision. In this vision, the downtown bus depot is transformed into a public market, alive with people milling about, haggling prices and debating the quality of a certain eggplant. I see all types of items and wares for sale, some of questionable quality, but that just adds to the character of the place.
I see one of the best things about Windsor showcased for all to enjoy: our plethora of cultures and creeds from all across the world in one place, rubbing elbows with each other, arguing and talking.
The symphony of languages would envelop the ear and give the passerby a feeling of being in an old-world bazaar. It would give Windsor a worldly feel, which I believe is much underappreciated in this city.
Amongst the produce, carpets and trinkets, I see art and I see inspiration. I see artists setting up their stalls in between the cabbage salesman and the woman who sells homemade jewellery. It would begin with one artist, then another would come, and then three more would come until an entire section of the marketplace is devoted to the visual arts.
Some artists would be so inspired they may paint right there in the market square, as great artists have done for centuries. This would bring art home for people, seeing someone ply their trade. Art would no longer be something done in a dark corner room or remote loft, it would be realised on the pavement.
It is open to the public, no cover charge, no pressure to buy anything; people would just go there to soak in the atmosphere and people watch. Art belongs in the streets, and people belong together.
Imagine how people from all around would come to our city just to see this place. It would begin rather small, as a curiosity, and then it would morph into another form, a sort of meeting place, where all cultures in this city can gather together and discover each other every day.
Some people, drawn by the cheap rent and the marketplace would move downtown just to be near the place. People like to be where the action is.
For too long in this city, we have ignored each other, passing through the sections of town with the foreign words on the billboards and signs rolling past us casting glare upon our windshields. Now we will be in each other’s company, putting people who seemingly have nothing to do with each other in one place together.
We need to strip away those old barriers that our forefathers established. We need to be a worldly city, an open city.
We have the Carrousel of Nations during the summer months, and this marketplace would be as if that festival never ended. I imagine musicians and buskers, artists, local farmers and local wine makers from all different parts of the region all breathing the free air of the city together year round.
A place such as this puts an emphasis upon local innovation and entrepreneurialism. It will provide a venue for all people.
It would be a very big step towards the next phase in this city’s future. In Windsor, we need accessible places for those of us who wish to establish their own businesses. It will employ a great many people and start a change in the complexion of our core, back to its roots.
We need to ask ourselves the question, “What belongs downtown?”
Neon lights and suburbanites, or haggling and character? Chemically altered bloodstreams, or the aroma of freedom? The commerce of flesh, or the trade of goods grown locally, by our friends and neighbours? Boarded up storefronts, or the work of the next Renoir, or the next Degas?
We are at a fork in the road, my friends, and we can steer this down the hard earned path, the right path, the deserved path.
Let’s not let this pass us by.
P.S. I can’t close out this post without thanking Adriano for coming up with the concept for an outdoor farmer’s market at the old bus depot. Without your awesome idea, I’d be at a loss for words, which is rare indeed.
Tags: artist, Creative Class, culture, Entrepreneurs, investment, pedestrian, walkable
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Thanks, Brendan!
Well said Brendan. Not just the center of the city but the soul.
Brendan!
I am on the board at Artcite and have been thinking about just such a thing. Especially the selling art bit. I have been thinking that fund raising is a huge problem for Arts organizations. To me the most logical way out is to sell the product that we have lots of. ART. We do it at Doin’ the Louvre every year and it works. Why not year round??? Give me a call have other ideas about how to make this happen. SD
Just letting you know this market will be for fruit, vegetables or cheeses only. No crafts or art will be sold in this market but that is not to say the vacant buildings nearby cannot be utilized for art and other wares.
i have to tell you that Adriano’s concept is quite good. it goes beyond just a farmers market and is really worth taking a good look at. it’s quite a brilliant idea…and i’m not just saying that cuz he’s my brother
Adriano and I have been to a few farmers markets in various cities (in north america and europe) and the ones that we found worked best were those that incorporated more than just food. While the emphasis is on the food and was the main product being sold, there were also local artisans and artists intermixed with farmers, cheesemakers, etc.
ME
To truly make the market successful and a “destination place”, arts would definitely need a place in it. All successful markets have a great blend of the two. There is enough space at the old depot to accomodate them.
Columbus, OH, is a shining example of what we should strive for. The North Market in that city is AMAZING!
http://www.northmarket.com/
I think the whole downtown including city centre west should be a giant public market, the heart and soul of our city. I often get accused of being unrealistic in my expectations, it is not that I’m unrealistic it is that I like to always keep the big picture in mind (occupational habit I guess).
And the big picture is that we need to reclaim our downtown. Instead of being the heart and soul of our city it is a hollow shell. Scared by countless parking lots and parking garages. It is sliced apart at every major east to west artery by speeding cars or traffic congestion. It serves the needs of outsiders not of the community in and around it.
How do we reclaim or downtown? The whole downtown should be a pedestrian bastion. Our goal should be to promote top quality public space, restrict car use in the downtown, promote walking, cycling and public transit as the preferred method to come to downtown, and to attract more businesses and residents.
ME, in order for a market to truly thrive, there needs to be a mixture or arts and food. And notice I used the word food and not just produce.
Of all the markets Pina and I have been to, the best have had that mixture. foods, paintings, crafts, custom shirts, even restaurants using only the foods found in the market.
For a market to truly succeed, it has to be a destination. I understand the DRA wanting it to be able to serve the residents downtown, but, for it to truly survive and thrive, the scope of it has to be much more than just a place for people living downtown to get some fruits and veggies.
Obviously, WindsorEats encourages the use of only local produce/goods in the market. What other way is there?
this may have been mentioned before…but who owns the bus depot?
If what ME says is true and the WSO wants the old bus depot as a surface parking lot, that is absolutely rediculous.
That lot itself will not event be sufficient parking anyways and there is a City owned parking garage just metres away.
A well planned and run market will go a heck of a lot further in drawing people to the WSO performances (if they are in the Armouries) than a parking lot ever would.
Please, can we actually begin advocating for that property to be used as a market as is? bus stalls/cover and all? Anyone in?
Adriano, it is the perfect location “as is” for a market. Just what the city needs. It will quickly snowball to form part of the identity of downtown. Obviously, I’m in!
You do nothing but cause me work, Adriano! I’m in!
i’m in! is the building itself for sale? if so, how much?
There is a farmer’s market in St Jacob’s Ontario that fits the mould, I believe. I bought a few Mennonite quilts and some home made maple butter a few years ago. The place is jam packed in the summer months, as people from all over the province and the states go there.
Its a bit hard to get to, and it is a tiny hamlet, but they do very well. Imagine what a place like that in Windsor could do, with all of our cultural diversity adding to the mix : )
-not to mention Windsor is in a great spot on our continent, very easy to get to….
http://www.stjacobs.com/html/shopping-farmersmarkets.html
Not a bad idea.
The city would only have to redirect the exhaust from the tunnel or install “scrubbers”.
After all, fresh fruit is hardly edible with exhaust on it.
Well, I did some digging, and thanks to Andrew at http://www.internationalmetropolis.com who I consider an expert witness, I have discovered that the old bus depot is owned by the city, and it is not for sale. According to Andrew, there are no immediate plans for the site at all. The city seems to want to let it sit there and rot.
So, lets put together a proposal for the site and go forward with this idea.
Oh, and did I mention… I’m in.
hmmm…the city eh? anyone know anyone that works there?
they might not be too keen on letting someone in there (liabilities, etc). aside from that it would also need a major cleanup. i’m all for putting together a proposal. Adriano may even have something already. He’s had his eye on the depot for a long time now:)
Thanks Brendan. Yes, the city does own the land and building.
The reason why arts were not included is that the DRA wants the arts to open up shops and increase density in the surrounding buildings. Also what tends to happen to thse markets is that the “crafts” start to replace food portion and the artists start to leave. All that is left is the “crafts” elements such as painted boards with cows and some hay glued to it.
We need food downtown first and then incorporate the arts if possible. This is what the people living downtown want and have cried out the loudest to have. But that doesn’t mean there can’t be a compromise.
I will be getting more info soon on what has been done to research this endeavour. The more people we have to push this forward the less chance the city can balk.
Though councilors read this site and the cat is now out of the bag I do hope they understand where we are all going with this and they help make this come to fruition.
It is time that downtown becomes a place to live, work and enjoy instead of a place to be avoided at all costs!
I will keep you all posted….
ME, that is why you go after who you want in there. Instead of just allowing anyone who pays, you approach who you want and you make people “apply” for the spots. let me tell you, and yes I am going to talk about the North Market in Columbus again. Not one vendor sold your generic folksy arts and crafts. It was all top notch items. Paintings, glassware, posters, clothing, jewellery, etc.
There has to be a mixture of arts and crafts for it to survive. Produce alone will not draw people to it and there is not enough residents in the core to make it survive.
If the Arts community was going to open up shops and boutiques downtown, it would have happened by now with all the vacancies. Artists need inexpensive ways to showcase their work and congregate in an area and markets are perfect for that.
ME, I understand that the DRA wants local artisans to open up shops in the surrounding area, but I think having an art space in the open market would be a lot cheaper for the artists themselves, rather than having to go through the drudgery and hassle of opening up a business, etc.
I envision a much more open ended space, where almost anyone can get a stall in the marketplace for a nominal fee, as long as they have a good product to sell. Who judges if the product is up to snuff? Perhaps having a taste test contest, or an “open market weekend” where potential businesspeople showcase to the public - the people who will be buying the product - what they have to offer, and the people decide who gets a stall.
This will encourage competition and the quality of the wares/food, etc will rise to the occasion. If there is a waiting list to get a stall here, and the people decide who gets in, then I think the local farmers, restaurants, etc will be forced to rise to the occasion. To me, as far as the produce/food sector of the market is concerned, this is the best case scenario.
A good way to market the place would be to have chili cook offs, bbq contests, open houses, school field trips to the place, concerts, etc. There should be a space for buskers and street perfomers as well. Always put the emphasis on fun and worldliness…
As for the arts, I feel that this should be the realm of the artists themselves. Let as many people in as the place can hold, then as artists get more established and start to sell a lot of paintings, then let them start their own galleries in spaces adjacent to the market by providing guidance on how to undertake such a venture. The emphasis here is mixing new and established visual artists.
I do not believe, however, that people hawking trinkets and tacky cow inspired pieces will last a red second in a place like this. Having a few of these people in the mix adds character to the place, however, like buying knock off dolce and gabbana sunglasses in Greenwich Village… There arent a million crappy knock off sunglasses and handbag dealers in the Village, just a few, in amongst the amazing places therein. Nothing can be considered interesting without a bit of scandal.
Atmosphere is the key to this marketplace. We need to make the marketplace cool. Simply put, it has to be a cool place to set up shop, go to and to stay a while in. The longer we can hold people there, the more they will start to look around the neighbourhood and say “jeez, why are all these places closed? Let’s do something about it!” We want a domino effect.
Just a thought, guys…
haha, exactly, Adriano! (I took a while to write that last comment, can you tell?)
Great dialogue folks. I do not disagree with your points. We all need to sit down and come to a conclusion on how this will best suit the residents downtown first because this is who is going to initially support the market.
Again I am not saying no, but let’s convey these points and find the compromise where it is a benefit to everyone. Though I will say there are a heck of a lotmroe downtown residents than people realize. The problem is they don’t shop downtown or go out downtown because there is little there for them to do. Again, this is not me stating this, but the residents who filled out surveys.
If we can attract more people to make this a success I say go for it! I will see if I can get a meeting going on this but it might be a bit tough with the holidays being right around the corner. Keep your thinking caps on and don’t get dismayed by my retort. Again, this must be inclusive for everyone!
I assume these vendors will be setting up under the canopies, correct? If so, how about using the building itself for things like a meat/deli counter, bakery, etc. (vendors who need utilities and shelter). Then you’ll have virtually one stop grocery shopping on-site, very much like we have at the Market Square in Walkerville. People need good food choices more than any other commodity, and I think this project will do 1,000x more to revitalize downtown than $2.50 draughts. You could make it even stronger by establishing a liaison between the vendors and the downtown restauranters, so the owners are buying their ingredients from the market too. Only good came come of something like this.
JCS…
great minds think alike. Thats what I had planned in my work for the site. Butchers, bakers, deli counters would be indoors while florists, produce vendors, artists, etc. outdoors under the canopy and in the empty lot.
We at WindsorEats had also planned, since we have a connection or two in the restaurant industry in Windsor, to put forth a plan to the restaurateurs to purchase from the market.
One of the objectives I would like to meet from the first meeting Pina and I are looking to arrange is to gather info as to what the people and businesses want from it. Providing what people want is obviously a good way to get on the path to being successful.
ME thank you and I agree, we need to sit down and draw up a proposal that is marketable to city hall. I cannot see the downside to having a place such as this downtown. I know it will attract a wide range of people from across the region if we make it unique enough…
I would love to be at a meeting. I have been trying to put things together for a long time on this idea and I want it to finally move forward. Windsor needs it.
so when can we all get together and get this project going?
Perhaps after the holidays are over would be a good time to get started, due to scheduling conflicts, etc. First week of January, perhaps?
i’m in. i suggest anyone interested in participating send adriano our emails and he will coordinate a date.
and pina has spoken! haha
for anyone that didnt know, i can be reached at:
info @ windsoreats . com
without the spaces of course
I will inform the DRA Market Committee and let them know as well. Together we will change Windsor.
Adriano, I think Kingston has market that would be a good model… the bylaws outline the opportunities for farmers, antiques and crafts…
http://www.cityofkingston.ca/visitors/marketsquare/index.asp
Seems other Farmer’s Markets have included the arts community.
http://www.westwindsorarts.org/
And contrary to ME’s statement, go to the Katie Market up in Owen Sound. Items for sale range from cows to trinkets to artwork to a variety of food stuffs to absolute junk.
And yet THOUSANDS flock to the market - not bad for a city of only 20,000.
In fact, I go up to Owen Sound twice a year giddy with excitement as to what I’ll find discover and/or find at the market. (And to buy authentic homemade honey and check out the Mennonite furniture).
Chris, it works there because Owen Sound is a small town with a huge farmers input (very inter-related). In Windsor that is not so, contrary to what you want people to believe. Besides we don’t need more junk in our downtown. ONCE AGAIN I WILL SPELL IT OUT CLEARLY, THIS IS FOR RESIDENTS OF DOWNTOWN SO THAT THEY CAN GET FRESH FRUITS AND VEGETABLES WITHIN WALKING DISTANCE OF THEIR RESIDENCE. IF WE COULD ADD MORE OF COURSE WE WILL SO QUIT TRYING TO ADD GAS TO THE FIRE CHRIS. We have a good sense of where we need to start to get this off of the ground.
Wow! Caps on lock, sorry about that. By “for residents downtown” that does not mean anyone else cannot come but the idea was created because there is no viable alternative plus it can be used to attract more residents to the core. Small steps first folks and then move forward because we don’t need or want the expectations of something huge and then people get disappointed. Art could certianly be a part of this but I will re-iterate that junk is a no-go.
ME, i understand that the residents want somewhere to get their produce, but, to say there is no viable alternative is stretching the truth. The Food Basics on Goyeau is in the downtown core and is walkable to.
Also, I understand residents needing items and locations for quality of life and that residents in the core are a major part of revitalization, however, you also need to understand that in order for downtown revitalization to work, the entire city needs to grasp it and something catering just to residents and not to the rest of the city will not work. The DWBIA attempted to have a farmers market and it failed miserable (sorry guys!) because no one went to it. Where were all the downtown residents for that walkable option for fresh produce?
The arts are a huge part to any revitalization and would be a major draw, combined with a food market, in bringing people from across the area. Heck, Chris even mentioned he goes to Owen Sound just for theirs!
As much as I would love for it to be successful, having a produce/veggie market just on its own in the core of our downtown will not work.
As for the types of art included, no one is saying the “junk” you are talking about are part of it. We have amazing artists in this city who I am sure would love to be a part of this. It’s not a matter of putting word out and choosing whoever comes to you. It’s a matter of going out and getting who you want!
i work in the downtown core and walked over to the downtown “farmer’s market” when it was there. you need to address the residents issues, no doubt. but many work in the core and don’t live in the core but would love someplace to grab our groceries on lunch or right after work. everyone needs to care about our downtown. whether you live in it or not. it is a reflection of the city as a whole. and right now it’s not a good one.
the market has to be something that is viable and has sustainability built into it. year round. we often talk about the importance of diversity, well it’s no different here. not one market i’ve visited had only food products. while food was the main commodity, they were always a beautiful mix of local artisans, craftsmen, farmers, cheesemakers, butchers, cafes, etc.
The problem is not an out of control fire the problem is a fire that is burning out. We must grab what ever is around us and throw at it to keep the fire burning. Thus, we don’t have the luxury to discriminate against what products the current market wants. Yes, the ultimate goal is to crowd out the massage parlors, teen clubs and the crappy souvenirs but the immediate danger is a growing vacuum that will attract even worse neighbors if we continue to let it grow.
This story explains how we use what is here now to ultimately achieve what we all want.
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/features/bywardmarket/story.html?id=77034722-87f5-4332-88a3-67bbac37a5ce
To avoid the krafters that plague Fart in the Park, you can just set a limit to the number of booths that they can take up. Give each genre a percentage of space or work like the One of a Kind show does, one mall-art painter, one pottery stand, etc. I agree that you can have more than just food and still have a successful market. People said they don’t go downtown because there’s nothing to do? So give them something…not that they will just start showing up if it’s there, but if there are quality offerings and it’s done properly then it can be a success. I think that there is a huge difference from someone who runs a warehouse wanting to make a fast buck building a market and someone like Adriano et al who is interested in culture and quality and sustainability who wants to build a community gathering area.
Check out Salzburg’s Christmas market…outdoors!
http://www.christkindlmarkt.co.at/
We didn’t get to see the Christmas market, but we did visit the regular market in November and bought fresh apples and pretzels and there was a huge chess board that had people playing with spectators…all in the winter.
We have a mild climate and New York has open-air vendors in November and December and we could too. “Come downtown with the family! Skate in Charles Clark Square, enjoy lunch at a local restaurant and pick up fresh pastries and great gift ideas at the market… all within blocks of each other!”
These are great questions that need addressing, as another one of our markets is suffering as well. Ottawa Street Market is losing a bunch of vendors for a new market setting up in Tecumseh. It’s sad and a potential community-wrecker if it is allowed to progress.
What is it that could help sustain the Ottawa Street, as well as a potential downtown, market? Ottawa Street has non-food vendors which I must admit I’ve never visited. I have my favourite food faves and I run in and run out with my goods in hand a couple of times a week. This market is a big aspect of why I chose to live where I did, and for it to start suffering makes me kinda worried.
What lessons can we learn from Ottawa Street and apply to Downtown?
Oh yeah, we also need to remember that not one person speaks for all the potential market customers and the wider the appeal we can make a potential downtown market the better. Why limit who comes? I see no point in that whatsoever.
I dont either, limiting who comes, and saying that the market “cannot” begin with a mix of food and art is counterproductive, in my opinion. I understand that the market needs to appeal to downtown residents, but we need to begin attracting people downtown who never go down there. I dont believe having a provincial and exclusive attitude will bring any progress in this matter, whatsoever. The emphasis must be on quality of goods, sustainability, and FUN for everyone, no matter what their address happens to be. It should be a really interesting place to visit, not a nuts and bolts fruit stand in the middle of a parking lot. That will draw no one and will fail miserably.
I dont want to start off small, I want to start off big, really big, and move from there. I want this market to make the one in Tecumseh look like a rickety old turnip stand. We need to have bread and circuses to put the asses in the seats, to steal a line from Bill Veeck.
Also, I despise when we sell ourselves short, thinking that we cant do something because it has never been done, or it’s too grandiose. Thinking small has never gotten us anywhere in this city. If we play this right, this market could be the kick in the ass that downtown Windsor has needed for a long time. It could spawn a whole host of new restaurants, bookstores, and even, ahem, a department store…
It could be the focal point of our cultural re-birth, IF we do this right.
Chris Holt, I don’t see anyone limiting who comes but the customer base is going to come from downtown and there is only so much room on that small parcel of land. Room is needed to see if we can get local farmers selling their goods to people who want them.
I like the idea of limiting some of the craft places but how to do that may be tough especially on city owned land. In this day and age everyone sues if they don’t get their way.
The Food Basics is horribly disgusting and most people who live in the very core will not shop there at all. Again, I am not saying no to the arts but this was initially set up to serve a need for the downtown population. If more people come, even better! But let’s focus on serving that need before we try and cater to everyone’s whim and fancy.
I didn’t realize Scaledown was going to become an art’s community only either…so much for diversification. The attacks against it are outrageous! No one is saying NO to the arts. What we are saying is let’s get the food in their for the local farmers first and then see if we can’t get more vendors.
You don’t swim across a lake the first time you jump into the water correct?
As for the market that lasted a year it wasn’t because people didn’t go it was because it was poorly promoted, no areas for food that had to be kept cold and it was going to move after one year under an existing parking garage….remember it was on a “trial” basis.
Maybe I should have just kept my mouth shut and not said anything. I hate to say it but I kind know how Eddie feels sometimes…geesh! Talking about eating your own young!
Brendan, thinking too big has done the same amount of damage to this city as well. We are not T.O, we are not Ottawa, we are a medium sized city of 208,000 people with the majority living on the fringes with LaSalle and Tecumseh. There aren’t going to be too many people running from those ‘burbs to come downtown to grab some fruit….initially.
This market is not going to be like the old market we had downtown. The footprint is too small and the mindset has changed somewhat.
This isn’t some BS line, this is the facts of life that we live.
It could certainly help our downtown but it isn’t gognto be teh catalyst for change. It may bring a few more people to live downtown, it may gring a few more businesses but it isn’tthe panacea that everyone yaps about when it comes to our core. Remember it is the little things that add up to make a place great.
Besides, the old market didn’t do any of those things you mentioned above either and it was a lot more prosperous than the current one on Ottawa St.
That is why we should sit down in January and get a concrete foundation going so that we all understand what is needed.
Don’t say that!!!! Don’t be like Eddie and not see the value in great dialogue, ME! It is through debates such as these that we flesh out the truly great ideas that will grow and thrive.
Neither you nor I can envision exactly what will work downtown. That’s what we need each other for.
Everyone here in this forum has the bricks needed to help build a strong and sustainable Windsor. We just need to work together and figure out how those bricks go together, that’s all. Don’t you dare hold back on anything!
Chris…to get some true dialogue going you may want to look at a method called a Wisdom Council. It is a truly unique way to approach ‘choice-creating’ as opposed to decision making. This type of process draws upon collective wisdom and has the potential to create those ‘ah-ha’ moments that you can sometimes share with your buddies in a bar room conversation.
You can read more about it and its creator Jim Rough here: http://www.tobe.net/page18/page18.html
Redefine Yourself — interesting idea! You’ve hit on my latest obsession related to understanding how systems, not people, are creating generational failiure, whether we talk financially, socially, physically, etc. I suggest taking a look at Open Space meetings as a way to generate new ideas and dialogue. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-space_meeting)
A quote from Peter Senge, author of The Fifth Discipline, states:
“There is an old distinction in our culture that I think it is time to re-examine. It has to do with the words “dialogue” and “discussion”. The Word “dialogue” comes from the Greek dia-logos. Logos means meaning or word. Dia means through. The original meaning of the word “dia-logos” was meaning moves through or flow of meaning. When a group of people talk with one another so that there is a flow of meaning, this is a very special kind of conversation. We become unconcerned about who says what, about whose view prevails or who saves face. We enter the domain of truly thinking together. By contrast the word “discussion” comes from the same roots as “percussion” and “concussion”. It literally means “to break apart”. A discussion involves heaving one’s views at one another. Who wins and who loses is often all that matters.”
I thought that was a poignant difference between discussion and dialogue — especially since 3 different posters have used the word dialogue instead of the more combative discussion.
ME, the problem is that if we try to micro-manage from the top down a market like this it will surely fail. You must let market forces decide what the right product mix is. Who among our little group understands the needs of the Asian or Mid-East population? I would guess not many yet this is one of the biggest market niches within the catchment area of such a market. Market forces must guide the public market if it is to succeed.
Besides some mono-use produce market is simply another small business in downtown and defeats the whole purpose of the vision as described by Brendan. While I would welcome such an enterprise it is hardly worth getting excited about.
I would have to agree with the others. Limiting it to the fruits and vegtables only will destine it for failiure.
Here’s my vision. As stated above, the produce will take place on the bus site, with refridgerated needs being dealt with indoors.
There could/should been an expanded section of produce and arts along a closed Chatham Street. Why not close the street weekly or once a month and expand the wares in temporary tents along both sides of Chatham Street?
It seems that downtown streets are closed everytime a dog farts in Detroit for a street party, so why not expand the “market” into a street market along Chatham to complement the market in the old Bus Depot?
I would be more than happy to meet with all parties to share my vision and input. ME & the Windsoreatists & the Scaledowners… Let’s meet up and discuss a strategy and a plan.
Let’s not keep this close minded, let’s make it appeal to the suburbanites in their SUV’s as well as residents of the core. It needs to be a destination for the city and suburbs. There’s enough half assed things done in this area. F*uck Tecumseh and their market plans. Let ensure that this plan is 100 times better than anything the stucco lovers can come up with for their strip malls.
My vision lets stucco the site to modernize it, and open another starbucks on the site as well.
Yeah, and give the market a drive through window as well : )
And open a Boston pizza.
Don’t forget to tear down the Armouries bldg so Boston Pizza can have a parking lot too. No one is going to eat there if there’s no parking.
And yes, Andrew, having the market double as a street market as well would be an excellent idea! That way, concerts could be hosted there as well…. The possibilities with this site could be endless, IF we do this right.
ME, in all fairness, I do realise we are a smaller city, however, we need to think higher of ourselves. We have for too long limited ourselves and our identity to that of a small city on the border that makes cars. I am tired of that label, sick and tired of it, not only because it is now basically inaccurate, but because it pidgeonholes us into just another rust belt crap hole and I know that we are so much more complex and diverse than that. That is the root cause of Windsor’s inferiority complex, and I hope that this market will be one of many things that we need to approach and succeed in to change the complexion of our city for the better.
We do need to sit down and discuss this much further, I agree, and I think all ideas should be explored in detail before we go forward with a proposal, as you do as well. At this juncture, no idea is a bad idea, and no suggestion is invalid, and I am thrilled to have you in the ballgame, ME. So lets go for it and make this market a million times better than the suburban drive through market in Stuccoseh!
Speaking of the Stuccobanites, the way we make the market appealing to them is by making it exotic and chic. We do that by word of mouth and clever advertising. Also, by holding as many events down there as possible will also really help. I would suggest opening the market the week of the fireworks display, when the most people are down there from both sides of the border… Then have big weekends during bluesfest, festival epicure, etc…
Psssst! I wanna fix Ottawa Street Market too! Don’t forget us in the rush to reinvigorate downtown.
Chris, connectivity, connectivity, connectivity! Connecting all the BIAs by public transit and bikeways is the answer. The entire core must focus on becoming a well connected pedestrian bastion that stands in sharp contrast to our car-crazed neighbors all around us. How about a free trolley that loops to all the BIAs? You could shop and experience the whole city core from wherever you start.
All the BIA are hurting, it is time to come together and work together.
http://www.citywindsor.ca/DisplayAttach.asp?AttachID=12545
Want to fix it? #1 Unless the vendor is specifically a food importer / ethnic food supplier, ask them to carry local. Why are there american tomatoes and lettuce and cukes and berries when they are in season here? I can get that at A&P, etc. so why would I go to the market? #2 Clean it the “f” up. Inside the market it’s so dirty and dingy. #3 Are there carts? Would that be goofy? If I don’t have the granny cart I have to take my produce to the car then come back in because I can’t carry it all. Pain! #4 Keep the website up to date and post info/specials online and outside the market. #5 If the market is open until 6, make the vendors stay open, not all shut down so those of us that get there after work don’t have anything to choose from.
This is the one reason it’s nice to have a car. (boo hiss, lol) We drive out to the county once or twice a month and load up at the farmers stands. For a couple $20 bills we stock up our own kitchen, our parents, and some for our next door neighbour even. $40 doesn’t buy much at A&P. And you can’t beat the quality of Essex grown produce (vs. chemical sprayed crap that’s been bouncing around for two weeks in a truck from Mexico). I emailed A&P once giving them shit for carrying low grade U.S. peaches during our harvest season. That got me nowhere.
You will _have_ to compete big with Tecumseh…you know they’ll be putting lots of money into the market’s development.
We can’t just think about the downtown residents because businesses downtown need to survive on more than just your dollars.
People will drive to shop for quality, ME. Belle River citizens would like to support the local grocer but zehrs moved out so many drive to St. Clair Beach or Tecumseh (A&P) now. I have an A&P at the end of my street practically but I drive to Zehrs at Lauzon or Remark on Howard to get quality produce and a bigger selection of local offerings.