The new Albany County Farmers Market will be held monthly on Sundays from July through October, set up on South Pearl Street in front of MVP Arena. Co-sponsors are the Downtown Albany Business Improvement District, Albany County and MVP Health Care.
The market is scheduled for noon to 4 p.m. on July 16, Aug. 20, Sept. 17 and Oct. 15. This year is considered a test run to gauge whether there is sufficient support for a weekly or twice-monthly market downtown, organizers said.
“Our goal is to operate a vibrant, open-air market series that provides our neighbors with fresh, high-quality food and artisan goods sourced from local farmers and producers,” the BID said in its announcement. “The market also seeks to strengthen and further activate our neighborhood by providing entertainment, family activities, nutritional education, and support for local nonprofit organizations.”
Georgette Steffens, executive director of the Downtown BID, said all four markets are essentially full, with each projected to have approximately 30 vendors and a third represented by women and minority owners. The vendors list and details of live music and other entertainment and activities will be announced about a week before the first market, Steffens said.
In other downtown news, The Cloud Food Hall, which opened in late 2020 just off North Pearl Street with an app-only ordering system and the hope of a strong delivery business during the pandemic plus growing lunch service as downtown workers returned to the office, has closed after changing concepts several times but failing to fully establish itself. An Instagram post from this past weekend said it will be reopen in a new location “in about three months.”
Owner Cory Nelson, who previously ran the multivendor Troy Kitchen food court for four years, pitched Cloud Food Hall as “the future of food in Albany,” and his vision at the opening was…
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