Potsdam seeks funding for Farmers Market pavilion

POTSDAM — Farmers, musicians and vendors may soon have a new place to set up shop in the village.

Officials are working to bring an open-air pavilion to the Main Street Farmer’s Market lot, near Ives Park.

The idea has been a popular request among village vendors over the years and has gained support from various advisory committees, said Frederick J. Hanss, planning and development director.

“I think there’s agreement among those who have participated in the process that this would be a good project for the village,” Mr. Hanss said.

Late last year the project got a boost when part of the money granted by the state’s funding handouts went toward the design of the pavilion.

Although an architect has yet to be brought on board, rough sketches of the project have the shelter sitting 32 feet wide by 40 feet long.

“That’s just a conceptual sketch,” Mr. Hanss said. “We don’t know for sure what the dimensions are going to be.”

With the sketches in hand, the village is now looking to secure a grant for the construction of the structure.

Earlier this week the village board unanimously approved a resolution giving Mr. Hanss’ office the go-ahead to submit a grant application to fund the pavilion’s construction.

Mr. Hanss said they are still crunching the numbers, trying to determine just how much their grant request will be. Engineers, however, have put the building’s cost in the neighborhood of $60,000, he said.

Talk of a pavilion was sparked by suggestions from a group of vendors at the village’s growing Farmer’s Market. The fresh food sales event has become a popular draw for the village in recent years as more and more people become conscious of where their food comes from, the planning director said.

And that is good news for downtown businesses.

Studies done by other communities have shown people won’t limit themselves to just the market. They will visit other stores in the area.

For every $10 they spend at the market, they will spend that amount or more at other stores or shops they probably would not visit otherwise, Mr. Hanss said.

“You might see people going to Farmer’s Market, then go across the street to the chocolate shop or go to lunch and get pizza,” Mr. Hanss said. “It’s interesting. There is definitely a spillover.”

But it wouldn’t be just for the seasonal Farmer’s Market, which runs four days a week from May through October.

The pavilion could also serve as a rain shelter during park concerts or a home for vendors looking to hawk their goods.

“We see it as being kind of a year-round park facility,” Mr. Hanss said.

With the grant request’s approval, the village will have to pay the $100 for the application fee. Mr. Hanss said the village will probably have to foot a small part of the bill if it moves forward with plans to build the pavilion, but how much the village would be asked to contribute remains unclear.