After rallying volunteers, the Spenard Farmers Market will return.
The popular market will be up and running this summer, according to board member Mark Butler, just months after most of the six-person market board resigned in February, citing exhaustion.
Butler, who helped found the market six years ago, said he is the only former board member to continue with the event. He's now part of a 20-person board that will run the market each Saturday along with a group of volunteers in the parking lot of the Chilkoot Charlie's bar.
Don't expect many changes, Butler said. Most of the produce, arts and food vendors will be returning. Butler said the music will be back too, with bands scheduled each weekend.
With renewed interest in the market, Butler hopes it will attract more vendors.
"I'm hoping it will be even better," he said Friday at a small press conference announcing the market's return, surrounded by old and new board members, volunteers and longtime vendors.
The markets will start May 16 and be open 9 a.m. to 2 p.m every Saturday through September. There will be more emphasis on theme weeks, Butler said.That's in part to encourage more people to come to the market, but also to encourage volunteers from different backgrounds to feel connected to the event. Themes will range from kids days to promoting energy efficiency.
Arthur Keyes, who runs the South Anchorage Farmers Market and owns Glacier Valley Farm, said he was happy to hear that the Spenard market is coming back. He was the first produce vendor at the market and said the reopening was good news for the whole Matanuska Valley farming community.
He wasn't surprised to hear Spenardians had banded together to restart the event.
"I think the community of Spenard is probably one of the tightest communities in Anchorage in terms of community involvement," he said. "There's a lot of pride there."
Chilkoot Charlie's owner Mike Gordon donates parking lot space to the market and allows it to use his electricity for free. Days after hearing the market was closing in February, Gordon said, he was hearing rumblings that others were stepping in to bring it back to life.
"It was a (leadership) vacuum that filled pretty rapidly," he said.
Former board member Marilyn Leland said it was the old board's hope that little would change with the market moving forward. It might have a new board, she said, but it won't look all that different.
"We thought it was time for new energy," she said. "I'll still be around helping."