Syracuse, N.Y. (NCC News) — Market manager Robert Travers opens the road up every Tuesday at 6 a.m. in downtown Clinton Square for the weekly food market. Although lately traffic has been slow, Travers finds ways to bring people in.
For a period of time, the Clinton Square fountain was broken, meaning it was empty. Travers wanted to use this to his advantage.
“I tried to get the fountain filled with cars. If we have 50 cars, there’s 50 people that are going to eat lunch and possibly go through with their wives,” Travers says. Although this plan fell through due to the Clinton Square fountain being repaired, he is keeping this idea tucked in his back pocket.
The Downtown Farmers Market is in its 50th year of business and does not plan on stopping any time soon. With heavy reliance on foot traffic, Travers said they have to generate better ideas to incorporate their time to use it best.
Adjusting the hours of business has been a big question over the years for Travers, after previously closing at 3 p.m. he realized the best time people walk around is during lunch time. So, he saw being open for that extra hour was doing nothing for these farmers who traveled from all over Central New York. He switched the time to finish at 2 p.m..
“Next year we want to try more events type of days,” Travers says with excitement. The market will be held weekly until Oct. 13 and will reopen next year with some of these new ideas coming to fruition.
