While the park is open, the area around the Bogert Park Pavilion is still tightly closed off with chain link fence and yellow tape after it collapsed under heavy March snow.
It was the home of the Bogert Farmer’s Market.
With the market season closing in, the question sits: where will the Farmer’s Market go?
The future of the Bogert Farmer’s Market has had a big question mark on it since the partial collapse of the Bogert shell last month.
“Frustrating because this is an iconic market that I run so I know everyone enjoys it,” says Salal Huber-McGee, Bogert Farmer’s Market director.
The sun is out and the park is open.
But one look at the barricades surrounding the Bogert shell and a glance at the damage show that the arena is still closed for good reason.
“There’s probably thousands of people that come here, I mean, over the course of the three hours,” Huber-McGee says. “Not all markets have the shelter that we have. It’s definitely an asset.”
With around 100 vendors scheduled to fill the pavilion this summer, the director says yellow tape is not good.
“There’s a lot of people that are a part of it, as far as vendors and their livelihood and it supports them financially but also, just as a community, we love it,” Huber-McGee says. “It’s a good place to hang out.”
But the show is not over.
The parks department says the market’s temporary new home won’t be far away.
“We’re working with the parks department and they’ve been very accommodating and willing to just allow us to have the show go on,” Huber-McGee says.
City officials say the community band will still perform.
The final outcome, though, is still a mystery as a final assessment of this damage is still set to take place.
Either way, Salal is confident that the curtain will rise again.
“We’ll look a little different but we’ll still be here and the show will go on and we’ll wait patiently,” Huber-McGee says.
Salal does say there is still over a month left before the first day of the Bogert Farmer’s Market, which is set to start in June running all the way through September.
In the meantime, she hopes that the city can find a solution to fix the building.
