ITHACA, N.Y. — The Ithaca Farmers Market will receive new state funds to remake its oft-maligned and pothole-beset parking lot, New York State Senator Lea Webb announced Saturday.
Webb delivered the customary oversized check for $125,000, which will be used for renovations to the market’s parking lot. Farmers Market leaders said they hope the paving project can begin before the end of the summer, with other upgrades potentially coming in the future.
The event, staged in the middle of a dreary but busy Saturday morning at the market, included remarks from Webb, Ithaca Farmers Market Board President Jan Rhodes Norman and Farmers Market Coalition President Monika Roth.
“It’s an honor to be here to give support, not just through policy, but with financial support,” Webb said. “This is actually the first capital investment that I’m making through my office, so Ithaca Farmers Market is the first recipient of this particular funding that I get.”
The funding came through a grant fund allotted to state legislators. Webb credited the farmers market with its role in battling local food insecurity, something she emphasized throughout the event.
“One of the many things that are important to me is supporting great organizations, great community partners that are doing what I call ‘the good work,’” Webb said. “The Ithaca Farmers Market provides incredible support, as it’s been noted with economic development, addressing complex issues around food insecurity, and so much more.”
Farmers market officials expressed their gratitude for the grant and acknowledged some of the other necessary infrastructure upgrades for the site. The popular market’s parking lot has wrought havoc on some visitors’ vehicles, especially in recent years as its leadership board has sought to expand and improve the longtime site.
“This facility is now 35 years old and it’s starting to show its age a little bit,” Roth said. “We’re hoping that this will help us make the necessary improvements, starting with the parking lot.”
Roth said farmers market leadership also intends to make improvements to the adjacent waterfront and the market’s pavilion, though the parking lot is being prioritized first.
When it begins, Roth said the parking lot work will occur during the week to keep the lot accessible for shoppers when the market opens on the weekend. Those schedule constraints will be a crucial part of the bid the market plans to publish to attract contractors.
Roth said the parking lot bid would likely be published around July and the work would take several months to complete.
“We’re happy to have the funding and we’ll use it well and wisely,” Roth said. “And according to state requirements.”
Norman also thanked Webb for her advocacy on behalf of the market.
“This is the first time since we’ve built this pavilion that we’ve come to the state or the community asking for any funding, we always generate everything ourselves,” Norman said. “The fact that you have been so incredibly supportive of this and our work as we enter into our next 50 years is just very important and we appreciate it.”
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