Grant funding advances Belleville’s plan to expand indoor-outdoor farmers market

Belleville has been awarded nearly $425,000 in COVID-19 relief funds to relocate and expand its Old Town Farmers Market.

If the Belleville City Council agrees to provide matching funds to renovate a city-owned building, the renamed Belleville City Market will be moved to South Illinois and West Lincoln and managed by the city of Belleville with help from a volunteer advisory board.

The plan calls for artists, bakers, florists and other vendors to sell goods year-round and farmers to offer fresh produce during the growing season.

“It is our goal and objective to open up a fabulous city market that is really inviting to everyone,” said Mayor Patty Gregory. “... We’re very excited about what this will do for our downtown area.”

The money would come to Belleville in the form of a state grant through the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, according to a press release from Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s office.

The grant is part of a $22.5 million package to support festivals and otherwise drive tourism. The package will fund 89 projects, including some in Edwardsville, Columbia, Granite City and Madison.

“Illinois is the best place in the nation to visit, and now that people are finding that out through our marketing, our tourism economy is booming,” Pritzker stated in the release.

“The Tourism Attractions and Festivals Grant program has been a vital part of that success by restoring and enhancing the great events across our state that draw visitors from around the world.”

The $22.5 million package represents the program’s second phase. Forty projects received $10 million in the first phase.

$846,115 in renovations

The 5,300-square-foot brick building at 117 S. Illinois St., next to Belleville City Hall, served as the BND’s circulation office for decades before it was sold to a medical-supply company and later to the city. It’s now used for storage.

The city’s renovation plan calls for uncovering skylights in the ceiling, knocking down some walls, possibly installing garage-style overhead doors that could be raised during warm weather to create an open-air atmosphere and more tents on pavement outside.

“This would give us 11,000 square feet of market area,” Gregory said.

The grant application specifies that Belleville City Market would provide space for 18 vendors inside and four or five outside, three food trucks, live music, art activities for children and cooking demonstrations.

Building renovations are expected to cost $846,115, according to Eric Schauster, assistant director of economic development, planning and zoning. He wrote the grant application.

“To get to that amount, we had an architecture-engineering firm come in and do a conceptual design and then they worked with some contractors to get estimates on what the costs would be,” Schauster said.

The grant would provide $424,850 toward renovation costs. The city is expected to contribute $421,265.

After the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity sends the city a grant agreement, aldermen will be asked to approve the expenditure in a resolution, according to City Clerk Jenny Meyer.

Gregory hopes to see Belleville City Market open in September.

“I don’t foresee any issues with (getting City Council approval),” she said. “We have already discussed it in many meetings with department heads and some of the aldermen.”

Weather-related challenges

A local organization partnered with Turkey Hill Grange to establish Old Town Farmers Market in 2000 at Ever and Anon Park in downtown Belleville. It was billed as a place for local residents to meet, greet and buy fruits and vegetables straight from local farmers.

Eleven years ago, the Belleville Main Street program of Greater Belleville Chamber of Commerce took over the market.

The location has changed several times over the years. Vendors recently have sold produce, meat, baked goods, flowers, art and crafts from tents set up on South Charles Street, between East Main and East Washington, on Saturday mornings May through November.

Belleville Main Street Manager Courtney Adams couldn’t be reached for comment this week. Chamber Director Wendy Pfeil confirmed that the organization ended its affiliation last fall.

“The market was struggling,” she said. “It always has been. The city has a vision for it. They offered to take it over and go with it.”

Last summer, Adams said one of the biggest challenges for the outdoor-only market was hot or rainy weather and high winds that could send tents flying and blow items off tables.

The number of vendors varied from four or five to 12 or 15 on any given Saturday, according to Adams. She pointed to the increasing number of farmers markets in the region, including some, like Vine Street Market in O’Fallon, with indoor/outdoor capabilities.

“Since the COVID pandemic, (Old Town Farmers Market) has seen a decline in attendance and vendor and visitor participation,” Belleville’s grant application stated.

The application estimated that only 50 to 75 customers were showing up to buy produce and other goods each week.

Higher traffic counts

Officials predict that a revamped Belleville City Market would attract more vendors and customers.

Gregory, who formerly served as Art on the Square director for 20 years, said it’s much easier for farmers and other vendors to unpack and pack goods when tents are provided and set up permanently.

“I don’t want to say that we’ll be jurying in vendors,” she said. “It’s not like an art show. But we will be making sure we have a wide variety and quality vendors at the City Market.”

Officials haven’t yet determined prices for tent rental.

South Charles Street, where Old Town Farmers Market has operated in recent years, sees an average daily traffic count of 1,850 cars per day, according to the grant application. That compares to 11,000 cars per day on South Illinois Street, which is Illinois 159.

“It is estimated that the City Market will bring approximately 250-300 visitors per week,” the application stated.

The fate of this summer’s Old Town Farmers Market is uncertain. Gregory said the city will try to recruit enough volunteers to operate it on South Charles Street until Belleville City Market opens.

Belleville City Market hours would be 4 to 8 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays and 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays year-round.

Customers could park in the city’s employee lot behind the building, according to Gregory. She also hopes to get permission to use lots of surrounding businesses and the St. Clair County Courthouse.

“We are not going to create any more departments (to manage the market),” Gregory said. “That is not our plan. Our plan is to work with interns who are looking for jobs ... and also having an advisory board with volunteers that have always worked at our farmers markets.”

The grant application states that the city would hire a part-time market coordinator to oversee the operation.

Money for the Tourism Attractions and Festivals Grant program was made available by the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, which allocated $1.9 trillion in federal funding to speed up the U.S. recovery from economic and health effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Illinois’ $22.5 million tourism package consisted of $5 million for local festivals and $17.5 million for attractions, museums, live-performance venues and other projects. The package includes the following metro-east grants:

• $19,600 for the Edwardsville-based Madison County Historical Society to fund Living History Days festival activities in various locations.

• $90,000 for Edwardsville Children’s Museum to expand its Discovery Garden.

• $340,669 to make improvements to the We Live Performing Arts Center in Granite City.

• $500,000 for Stumpy’s Spirits Co. to construct a “visitor experience center” at its distillery in Columbia.

• $500,000 for World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison to prepare for the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series race.