Locals Fight To Reclaim Farmers Market's Turf In Greenpoint Park

WILLIAMSBURG, BROOKLYN — One of the neighborhood’s favorite spots for fresh fruits and vegetables got elbowed out of McGolrick Park by construction workers building a playground and residents aren’t happy about it.

The Down To Earth Farmers Market was relocated to Monitor Street so that the city could complete a $2,639,000 renovation of McGolrick Playground, and local shoppers have started a petition to bring it back to the park.

“The cramped gauntlet of Monitor Street doesn't compare to the circle of vendors set-up we had INSIDE the park,” wrote the petition’s author, who called him- or herself Mcgolrick P.

“In this time when our park is under construction, it is especially important to have events where we can hang out together in the park.”

Almost 300 petitioners have signed their name to an online appeal asking the Parks Department to accommodate the farmer’s market inside the park until construction wraps up in September 2018.

The narrow pathway on Monitor Street near Driggs Avenue is ill-equipped for shoppers who might otherwise linger over Orwasher Bakery’s display pain de champagne or Horman’s seasonal pickles, they said.

Residents also argued the farmers market — in its original location — served as a vital community center where they gathered to see friends, meet their neighbors and watch the kids play.

“For a few hours of one day, adults should be allowed to use the now designated, ‘child play area,’” wrote Lacey K. “Adults are people too.”

Vendors are concerned about the decrease in foot traffic they’ve seen in the weeks since the move first occurred, according to Greenpointers, who originally reported on the petition.

“As a vendor at this market both last year and this year we've seen a drastic decline in sales with the market being on the Southeast side of the park,” wrote petitioner Alex I. “Please move it back!”

Patch reached out to the Parks Department to ask whether they’d consider relocating the farmers market and will update the story if and when they respond.

Photo courtesy of the Parks Department