After a year and a half of construction, huge crowds of shoppers arrived at the Overland Park Farmers Market this past weekend to buy products from its vendors for the first time in its new space.
On Wednesdays and Saturdays moving forward, 50 to 100 vendors will set up shop — offering locally grown fruits and vegetables, teas, mustard, mushrooms, bagels and a lot more.
During a live broadcast of KCUR's Up To Date at the new market, Parks and Recreation director Bryan Toben said that he has been thinking about this project for a decade.
He views the $34 million renovation as necessary for "the growth of the market, the reinvigoration of downtown Overland Park, between the community center down here, Thompson Park, the new Clock Tower Landing, everything."
The market now has a pavilion allowing it to operate year-round, with heating and cooling amenities. It also has expanded bathrooms and more space for refrigeration and cooking equipment.
Toben said the biggest challenges were replacing old infrastructure and ensuring that the market could get back to business as usual in a timely fashion.
"We had infrastructure under the streets that was from the 1940s," Toben said. "We had a number of businesses and merchants and vendors, small businesses that that rely upon this area that we were impacting for over for 18 months for parking and circulation. So, coordinating all of that, getting everything done, and then back online as quickly as possible."
- Bryan Toben, Parks & Recreation director, City of Overland Park
