Basalt farmers market vendor apps open; market to move back to Midland Spur

The Basalt Sunday Market is heading back to its original home on the Midland Spur after a summer spent on the new River Park.

“It was a really nice way to highlight the new park. It’s a beautiful venue,” said Sara Nadolny, senior planner with the Town of Basalt. “Unfortunately, it did see a little bit less success in that location for various reasons and made it less ideal.”

The 2024 season for the farmers market will be every Sunday from 10 a.m.-2 p.m., June 16-Sept. 29. Moving back to the spur will open space for about 20 new vendors. 

The market temporarily moved to the recently redone River Park campus for the 2023 season during construction on Midland Spur. While many enjoyed the riverside location, having tents at the park proved a problem for both vendors, town staff, and families whose children wanted to play at the bounce house while parents wanted to shop. 

“We had people acting as crossing guards and stuff going back and forth … Vendors had a more challenging time with the setup and the breakdown …. We had issues with electrical access,” Nadolny said. “Folks had a difficult time with accessibility (in the park). Some folks didn’t really think twice about it and were able to walk through just fine, but a lot of differently-abled people or people with strollers really did have a difficult time traversing the river park on uneven terrain.”

The 2023 market set up along the paved area bordering the Two Rivers Road side of the park, and some tents were in the grass. To fully move throughout the market, visitors would have to go up and down steps, as well as move through soft, occasionally wet grass. 

Nadolny said that she heard anecdotally that the vendors didn’t do as well financially in 2023, which could be due to the location. 

Planning Director Michelle Thibeault told town council at their meeting on Tuesday that answering the concerns of vendors is important, as they could choose to go to the Vail Farmers’ Market instead. 

“I think the scariest pieces of feedback we received last year is that, as the market was wrapping up, we had multiple vendors say that they can pass on Basalt and they can go to other markets that are easier to set up and to deal with and have more traffic,” she said. 

Councilor Elyse Hottel worried about parking options with moving the market back to the spur, as the Midland Streetscape Project will have moved a chunk of downtown parking to the spur and off of Midland Avenue. 

Nadolny and Town Manager Ryan Mahoney said the town will continue its partnership with Basalt Elementary School for Sunday parking. Parking spaces will also be available on Two Rivers Road.

“At least my observation is there’s not a lot of competition for parking, particularly in the morning (on Sundays),” Mahoney said. “I think the additional parking that (we have) all the way down to Old Pond Park added spaces. There could be fewer because of the construction. But I think the the posture from staff was that the benefits of moving it back over here with that parking constraint potentially still outweighed the alternative … with some of the issues that we outlined.”

Council agreed to move the market back to the spur for 2024 but asked staff to look into what it would take to relocate the activities for children to the River Park and make setup and access easier for vendors and visitors to the market next year, hopefully getting the market permanently on the park campus.

“I loved having it in the park,” Hottel said. “I know the park wasn’t really designed for it because it wasn’t foreseen that it might move. But I am spoiled now.”

Nadolny said the market will work with the Two Rivers condominium building for access to their building at 100 Midland Avenue as they have in years prior. 

Applications for the Basalt Sunday Market can be found at the Town of Basalt website.