Chess Park work will shorten season for city’s farmers market

The organizers of the Monongahela Farmers Market will have to shorten its season due to lack of space at the park.

Construction work at Monongahela’s Chess Park has created tension between the city and the Monongahela Area Revitalization Corp (MARC).

On Wednesday, the organizers of the weekly summer Monongahela Farmers Market, which is led by MARC, issued a statement on its Facebook page that its organization isn’t upset that work is taking place at Chess Park, but with communication from city officials.

“Understand, we are thrilled that the city is redoing the electrical system in the park,” the post states. “That is not our issue. The issue is there has been little to no communication with the market, and worse, we were told in the spring that this would not affect the market. The construction would be finished by the beginning of June and we would be able to have our regular market, music, and events in Chess Park without issue.”

They added that if they had known construction was going to begin later, they would have instead held the farmers market on Seventh Street. Their first farmers market of the year was on June 13.

Mayor Greg Garry said work on Chess Park was supposed to begin earlier, but the start date was pushed back.

“I apologize for any inconvenience we’ve caused the people with the farmers market,” Garry told the Mon Valley Independent.

“But some things are just unavoidable, and the improvements that are being made will benefit them in future years, obviously. Sometimes you just have to take a step back to get the improvements made.”

On the farmers market Facebook page, they asked people to attend last night’s council meeting. MARC President George Eckert told council during the meeting he is concerned about safety with the construction equipment at the park.

“Being an athletic trainer for over 40 years, safety is number one,” Eckert said during the meeting. “Down there today, there’s still conduit wires out. Kids get in there and start playing with it; they could cut themselves. The area around the gazebo is not cordoned off. There’s gravel in there now, but there’s no yellow tape around it.”

Garry said they would look into potential safety issues at the park.

After the meeting, Eckert told the Mon Valley Independent he had a longer statement prepared for the meeting, but decided to only address the safety issues. Eckert provided the full statement to the MVI, in which he stated that MARC is shutting down the full farmers market three weeks early due to the construction issues.

Eckert explained that although some of the produce vendors plan to continue until mid-September, due to the limited space on Seventh Street, they’re not able to host the rest of the vendors. Eckert said that the produce vendors typically have stayed longer due to some of their later crops.

Eckert’s statement went on to add that when construction started at the park on June 23, and concrete around the park’s gazebo was taken out, they were able to resolve some initial issues, including moving their musical entertainment. However, major complications developed when electrical outlets were overloaded, disrupting the service of some of their vendors.

As work progressed, several weeks later, they started to face more issues, including additional electrical problems, and having to reprimand children who would climb onto slabs of concrete. One of the sidewalks was filled with dirt and sand, which led to several people in wheelchairs getting stuck and requiring help.

“I had hoped that our contract with the city would be honored, giving us full access of Chess Park,” Eckert said in the statement. “We choose not to cancel this Friday because it is our Kids’ Entrepreneur Day and we have over 20 participants signed up. We have safety concerns in assigning a space for them. Presently, we only have at most, use of 25% of the park. With this limited space, we may have to turn away some of the children.”

In his statement, Eckert added that they’ve canceled their Wild Animal Day due to the lack of space. They had paid $700 for the event, but Eckert said they hope to recoup some of the money.

Garry said that he estimates the work could be completed at the park around November or October, possibly earlier.

In other business:

• Council passed a motion to approve a grant for an interior project at 424 W. Main St., and in the same motion, they offered their support for the good work the Monongahela Main Street Program is doing.

• Council approved hiring Owen Haywood as a part-time officer and Benjamin Shaffer as a full-time officer.