The Dallas Farmer's Market is remaking itself. Yesterday, was the first time that I had been down to the market in sometime. I love the Ruben sandwich at the Chicago Sausage Company. Since 2001 when I participated in a market study about downtown living, I got to know several of the "long term" vendors at the Farmer's Market and some of the other businesses. Lots has change in the time since. There has been a lot of discussion about the Farmer's Market going private for management. When things like that begin to fill the air, there is usually something more going on in a QT kind of way. Change has never been a stumbling block for me. You learn to go with the flow over time. Patience also helps with change, too. Just as in the old days of my grandparents and parents, you run across people you once knew and lost contact with. There are others that still serve up friendship and a good sandwich or bottle of wine with a good cut of meat. Chicago Sausage Company and Jimmy's Italian Grocery not far from the Farmer's Market does that well. Dallas doesn't have the big import stores and shops like in Chicago, Detroit or New York but over time, by word of mouth or the stumble upon technique, you find that import and specialty store and meet old friends again and have good food.
Almost immediately it was easy to see that Shed 2 was under mass movements of concrete and dirt and that all the vendors were in the roadway of Shed 3 with the Shed 3 vendors still in place. The old fish market between Shed 1 and the old Casa Blanca Restaurant was gone and all that remained was the smooth dirt where it stood surrounded by concrete walkways.
Also missing are the Welcome signs in seven languages replaced by a square banner that simply says: Dallas Farmer's Market. The second of two garden vendors and the retail vendor shop in the Administrative Building where vendors could buy bags and tags and the like. I suppose that the city's new plastic bag law has something to do with it, although that could not be confirmed.
After talking to one of the vendors that I have know for more than 10 years, it soon came to the surface that the finished product would be Shed 1 standing, Shed 2 redone, Shed 3 and 4 demolished. In the space of Shed 3 and 4, there would be new construction of apartments and condos like the one that have been going up for the past several years with a noticeable increase in the past year. So, as always, the reconfiguration seems to be based in the Almighty Dollar. I know that the blackberries were at their highest price I have ever seen and the one I tasted was not sweet at all. By the time I got to Kroger's, the sweetness was back in the blackberries and the price was less than half what the Farmer's Market wanted for a
full pint.
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| The old fish market is gone |
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| Shed 2 is gutted and being redone |
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The flower market is now gone leaving only the one on Cadiz Street between Harwood and Cesar Chavez with hanging baskets, flats of flowers and potted displays.
edited for a flat finger flub: took out "dirty" and replaced with "dirt". |
