A fusion of art, music and local food will hit downtown Lewiston this summer with the reinvention of the town’s farmers market.
The new Public Market will take place on Friday nights starting June 3 at the parking lot on the corner of Fifth and D streets, across the street from the Lewiston City Library. Beautiful Downtown Lewiston is partnering with Inland 360 to change the day and location of its market and Sound Downtown concert series. The parking lot is owned by the Lewiston Tribune, which publishes the entertainment magazine. The events were previously held Saturday nights in the D Street Parking Lot and Brackenbury Square.
“We’re really excited to partner with the Tribune to host the event,” said Courtney Kramer, executive director of Beautiful Downtown Lewiston.
“Inland 360 is about building art, culture, community and connectivity and defining the cultural character of our communities,” said Nathan Alford, editor and publisher of Inland 360, the Lewiston Tribune and the Moscow-Pullman Daily News. “Any chance we can help build community we’re willing to listen and be a positive partner and that’s our goal with this market.”
A new public mural
To bring more energy to the space, a large-scale mural is planned for the west wall of the building facing the lot at 523 D St. Artist proposals are being accepted through April 22 with a July 1 completion deadline. The building is owned by the Tribune and currently home to Image Design.
The theme for the mural is fairly open, Kramer said, but it should be eye-catching and tell a story of what downtown Lewiston is about.
There’s been talk of putting a mural on the building for years, Alford said. With the market coming to the lot he sees it as an opportunity come to fruition to turn a blighted wall into a compliment to the community.
Changes to the market and Sound Downtown
The Public Market will take place from 5 to 8 p.m. most Fridays from June through September. Besides food from local growers, the market will include handmade artisan goods, food trucks and live music. The new location is more visible to Main Street, Kramer said. People had complained about having to cross the street from Brackenbury Square to the market at the old location. The new location provides more space for off-street browsing.
The Sound Downtown concert series will take place from 6 to 8 p.m. at the market except for the first Friday of each month when concerts will be held in Brackenbury Square. The Brackenbury Square concerts will mark First Friday, where downtown businesses hold special art and culture events. Those concerts will be larger, Kramer said.
“A lot of this is modeled on the Capital Street Dock Concert and how successful that has been,” Kramer said about changes to the market.
The Capital Street Dock Concert is Inland 360’s summer music festival held at the Fifth and D streets parking lot. Farmers market vendors were invited to sell at the 2015 festival and the response was positive, Kramer said.
The third annual Dock Concert will be held 5 to 10 p.m. July 8.
Along with seeking an artist to paint the mural, Beautiful Downtown Lewiston is soliciting designs for a logo for the Public Market, along with interested musicians and vendors. Vendor stall rentals are $10 per day, $30 per month or $100 for the year.
More information can be found online at www.beautifuldowntownlewiston.com. Questions can also be directed to Lewiston Farmers Market coordinator Amanda Gill at (208) 244-2563 or market@beautifuldowntownlewiston.org.
