Starting Thursday, July 6, the Perry Farmers Market will leave its longtime location at the Perry Marketplace for a new spot at the Josh Davis Memorial Plaza on Second Street in downtown Perry.
The stalls at the Perry Marketplace, which is situated at the trailhead of the Raccoon River Valley Trail, will give way to an open-air marketplace at Josh Davis, with the wide sidewalks between Willis Avenue and Warford Street also serving as vendor space, although organizers said the plans are still provisional.
Perry Chamber of Commerce Board member Emily Leslie, who helped spearhead the effort to move the market to the Josh Davis Plaza, said the aim is to bring in downtown merchants as vendors in the farmers market.
“This will be a great opportunity for some of our local retailers to set up a rack of clothes or a table of goods,” Leslie said. She said the Perry Chamber, which sponsors the farmers market, will also be reaching out to other organic growers in the Perry area and luring them to the revamped venue.
“This could turn Thursday nights downtown into a very active center for the community,” Leslie said.
Perry Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Bob Wilson said he was excited at the prospect of raising the profile of the weekly market.
“The Chamber has some energetic and determined members,” Wilson said, “and they are going to make Thursday nights great again in downtown Perry. It will be great to see the Josh Davis Plaza teeming with buyers and sellers starting next month.”
