Friday, September 20, 2024
LAKE WORTH —On Aug. 12, the Lake Worth Farmer’s Market announced on its Instagram page it will temporarily close while it searches for a new location because of a lack of customers and vendors.
The old market location was next to the Lake Worth senior center and the public library.
Farmer’s Market Coordinator/Community Engagement Whitney Berry said the construction of the new pickleball courts made the market hard to spot, and once the courts were up, it became impossible for people to see the market was open, causing sales to become slow.
Berry had originally thought the pickleball courts would bring in customers, but it didn’t play out that way.
“We thought maybe that would drive up traffic, but that was not the case,” Berry said. “So really just the location wasn’t conducive to bring in a large crowd to sustain the market and keep our vendors there.”
Berry works for Community Link, a nonprofit organization based out of Saginaw. Community Link has a contract with the City of Lake Worth to produce the market, and the two entities are working together to find a new and better location for the market.
“We work really well with the city,” Berry said. “We love the City Manager, Stacey; we work closely with her to identify and find locations.”
Berry is in talks with a couple of possible locations, and said an ideal spot would be off Azle Avenue.
Community Link is primarily a food pantry, but it also provides services for any need beyond groceries like mental health counseling and multiple farmers’ markets including Lake Worth’s market. Berry also manages farmers’ markets in Azle and Saginaw.
The timing of Lake Worth Farmer’s Market reopening is yet to be determined.
