Farmers Market to stay downtown

GREENSBURG – It has been decided the 2024 Farmer’s Market will remain on the Greensburg Square this coming summer. The decision was made at a recent meeting of the Decatur County Commissioners.

During business hours, finding an available parking space on the Square can be difficult. Many of the parking spaces are taken by downtown merchants and courthouse employees, leaving less room for shoppers to park. With construction scheduled for the east side of the Square through the summer of 2024, that problem will be compounded.

Earlier this year, the Decatur County Commissioners asked the Main Street Greensburg organization to move the Market to the Decatur County Fairgrounds, where those involved did business in 2020 during the COVID pandemic.

“I speak tonight not for the Main Street organization, but for the 29 vendors who rely on our weekly Farmer’s Market,” Market Master and Main Street Greensburg Interim Director Allison Beck said. “The Farmer’s Market is not just a Main Street organization event, but the livelihood of 29 local families. If you move the Market to the fairgrounds, you will endanger the livelihoods of the vendors that operate there.”

Beck described the growth of the Farmer’s Market and the return of SNAP benefits, along with the additional vendors who have joined the Market since it began in 2006.

Commissioner Jeremy Pasel asked Beck how she thought a move to the fairgrounds damaged the Market. Since Beck was not part of the Main Street organization during that period, she deferred to Amber Coin, who was present.

Coin said that the number one complaint from the vendors during that period was the different location.

“When you move the Market to the fairgrounds they lose the visibility of the event,” she said. “There are just a lot of advantages of having the Farmer’s Market right here in our downtown area.”

After further discussion about various other Market issues, along with testimony by Visit Greensburg (Tourism) Director Philip Deiwert, the Commissioners voted to allow the Farmer’s Market to remain on the Square for the 2024 season.