The Center of It All

My town holds a weekly Farmers Market every Thursday evening from 5 to 8 p.m. Directly downstairs, under my fourth-floor windows. The street downstairs closes at 4 p.m. so the vendors can set up.

The downtown Farmers Market only runs during daylight saving time — so essentially from April through October.

I look forward to the beginning of the market every spring and we all look forward to its close every October.

My clients hate it.

Everyone always forgets about it. So they plan their trip time to get to their appointments, only to find themselves having to reroute on the fly, continuing down Main Street another two blocks, making a left-hand turn and backtracking, then spending at least 15 minutes trying to find a parking space.

It’s just one of those little rituals we endure for the sake of being located in our town’s active downtown district.

The Farmers Market, the annual Waiter’s Races, “Blues, Brews, and BBQs,” parades, concerts, and the relatively new — and very aggravating to the folks who work in my building — “Downtown Expo,” which is essentially a fashion show disguised as a cancer fundraising event.

The Downtown Expo not only closes the street the entrance to my building is on, since it’s an event that requires a ticket, they fence off the street, close our parking lot, and bar access to the sidewalk leading up to our door.

Even though the coordinator of the event has come to understand that the 72 businesses other than the bank in this building don’t necessarily close up shop at 4 p.m. and has cooperated with us so that we can get clients to and from their appointments even if they haven’t purchased a ticket to the event, at this point I just take that day off each year.

There’s a cost for being in the middle of it all. But despite the inconvenience that so many people love to complain about, I also know that the chance to be a part of the action is a draw and everyone loves listening to the live band during the Farmers Market.

But still, by this time of the year, we’re all counting down the weeks till it closes up so clients can park and get to their appointments on Thursdays.