The Sparks Hometowne Farmers Market, normally located on Victorian Square, is relocating to downtown Reno after a 20-year run in Sparks.
The new market will be located on the corner of Arlington Avenue of Commercial Row, in a large parking lot owned by the Sands. The Sands owns a massive 10,000 square foot event tent that the market will be held under. Nice! It will be named the Downtown Farmers Market.
This reminds me very much of the farmers market in Hilo Hawaii, one of my favorite farmers markets in the country. It too is under a permanent tent structure, mostly due to the rains of course.
Downtown Hilo's Farmers Market
This will be a big change to downtown Reno's farmers markets in the past, which were usually exposed to the sun on West Street or Cal Ave and led to pretty mushy fruits by the end of the day.
The Sands is stepping in to team up with the producers of the former Sparks farmers market to help with production, entertainment, and offering up a private vs. public lot.
As of late, there have been many complaints that the Sparks farmers market was less of a farmers market, and more of a meat market, if you get my meaning ;)
With the relocation, the farmers market is expanding and going back to its roots. Can I tell you how excited I am about this? The 10,000 foot tent will offer up space for 60 booths.
The market will be operation June 11 through August 20, each Thursday beginning at 4 pm. It will be located in the Sands Regency parking lot just south of the train trench.
For more info check out Jonathan's RGJ article.
Thank you. It was a tough decision, but the support of the Sands has helped make it a smooth transition, and I think people will be pleasantly surprised.