Northeast News
March 9, 2016

The handwriting was on the wall for the old fashioned City Market.

Over the weekend, this city’s oldest produce market literally ran out of produce. Yep, no fresh fruits and vegetables for the market faithful is what this dog is hearing, along with two aisles completely devoid of any vendors. Kansas City’s City Market has a long and storied history of providing fresh produce and baked goods to shoppers who travel from all over the region for a unique shopping experience. Apparently, not so this past Sunday when the few vendors who were on site ran out of product, leaving a sour taste in the mouths of market shoppers.

Has the market outgrown its purpose? Did the streetcar’s route — one that almost completely encircles the market — cause potential shoppers to avoid the area like the plague? This dog does and it’s the parking and traffic nightmare created by the new-fangled streetcar that keeps me and others away.

More and more farmer’s markets are popping up in the burbs, where parking spots are easier to come by and traffic isn’t snarled by an immovable street railway. To that end, our own Northeast farmer’s market opens next month with a host of home grown fruit and vegetable options and no traffic snarls to complicate the process. This news writing canine will be watching closely over the next few weeks to see if last weekend’s fiasco was just an early season fluke or whether the market is on a downward spiral with limited offerings and fewer vendors. Unintended consequences or early season fluke? You be the judge.