Inside the Lane County Farmers Market Pavilion, opening day June 4, 2022 (all photos are mine).
For many years, a go-to weekend
activity for me and my wife has been heading downtown to grab lunch at the Saturday Market International Food Court (our favorite menu item is Afghani Cuisine’s Qabuli Pilaf) and visiting the Lane County Farmers Market
to pick up fresh produce; however, COVID-19 disrupted this comfortable routine.
So too did the first phase of the Eugene Town Square redevelopment, which temporarily displaced
the Farmers Market to a location on East Fifth Avenue. Yesterday’s opening of
the new Lane County Farmers Market Pavilion and Plaza marked the welcome
return of the market to its historical location at 8th and Oak. We happily joined
thousands of others to experience the market in its new venue on opening day.Of course, I’ve been following and reporting on the reimagining of the Farmers Market as part of a refreshed Eugene Town Square for years now. Most recently, I documented the design and construction progress of the Market Pavilion and Plaza. The new Eugene City Hall and reworking of the southwest and southeast park blocks remain future projects, but if our visit on the first day of the market on the former site of the razed "butterfly lot" parking structure was any indication, it is clear the City of Eugene’s vision of a revitalized Town Square is already being validated.(1)
The roof structure is comprised of mass-timber panels supported by glulam beams. The floor is polished concrete.
The plaza’s use of decomposed
granite may prove slightly problematic. While comfortable underfoot and
generally successful at absorbing rainfall, when wet it clings to shoes, which
track the material about and into the pavilion.
Oddly, an overall impression I
had of the new Farmers Market Pavilion and Plaza is that the new facility
has been a downtown fixture for years already. My mind says, “I’ve seen this
before.” Of course, the farmers market traces its history on this same site
back more than a century, but this current incarnation is entirely original. Perhaps
I should chalk up my sense of its familiarity to how inevitable and appropriate
the market’s new home has turned out to be.
It will be interesting to see
how the Lane County Farmers Market organization and the City of Eugene program
the pavilion and plaza beyond its primary use as a location for small, local
farms to sell fresh, nutritious foods. The plan has always been that it will be
a multifunction community space.
Though yesterday was its first
day in operation, the new Market Pavilion and Plaza’s grand opening celebration
will take place on Sunday, June 26 between noon and 4:30 PM. That free event
will feature live music, food trucks, speakers, information from partner
organizations, and family-friendly activities.
(1) Of course, my statement presumes the City will eventually fully realize that vision, something very much in question at the moment: To Build or To Buy? – Eugene Weekly
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