New Long-Term Seasonal Food Market Planned For Prospect Park

PROSPECT PARK, NY — The Prospect Park Alliance wants to find a vendor to set up a long-term, weekly food market throughout the summer starting next year, which could potentially replace the Smorgasburg in the park.

The group wants the seasonal market to focus on "high-quality, affordable and healthy food" along with a mix of drinks, including alcohol, that would run for at least five years, according to a request for proposals (RFP) issued earlier this month.

The market would run every Sunday from April to March, with the exact start and end dates to be approved by the city's Parks Department and Prospect Park Alliance, the RFP states.

The proposed site for the market would be at Breeze Hill near the Lincoln Road entrance of the park and it will take over space used as a parking lot for ice skating during the winter.

Smorgasburg previously ran a market at the spot since 2015, and a spokeswoman for the Alliance said they could apply to run the new market, which has a longer lease.

The agreement calls to run the market for five years, starting in 2018, and the winner will have the option to extend it for an additional five years afterwards, according to the RFP.

Aside from the latest RFP, the Alliance also released one in March to expand their food offerings to the nearly 10 million annual visitors to the park. That proposal calls to get food and drink vendors to open at up to 16 spots across the park.

The deadline for operators to apply to run the latest seasonal food market is Jan. 5.

Image: Mark Torrence/Patch