jbox wrote : There should be ONE market, at the Barlow.... forward in a better direction with a bigger, better market at the superior location.
i strongly disagree . Sebastopol Plaza Market is the heart of the Sebastopol commonunity - it is an incredible social gathering where friends reconnect and nature ,music and open-heartedness combine harmoniously . The setting is idyllic for neighbors to gather together ;
it is this QUALITY that makes the Plaza market the quintessense of the village ambience and is the magical environment that brings out these qualities best { music , circular feng-shui , grass&trees , children&adults dancing&playing } . It is like in the old days when the Barn-dance , or doing laundry down by the watering-hole , brought the commonunity together in a special way that was so neighborly and the high-point of the week .
This is why people { especially from out of town } are so delighted to visit the Plaza Market and are delighted with how friendly it is . For this subtle reason , many consider it the best Farmer's Market in Northen California . Its the setting and size that give our market these charming neighborly qualities . QUALITY COUNTS - bigger size is not necessarily a good thing , especially if it destroys the 'neighborhood feel '. Like the song says , "they tore up paradise and put in a parking-shopping lot " { The Barlow design, concrete , plan , linearity , size , lack of nature , lack of resting spaces and crowding cars between each pedestrian area is sterile , ill conceived and just the opposite of the incredible vllage Plaza benefits }.
"Bigger is better " is thus not true in this case . If your concern is to allow more vendors { specifically including from out of county ; will they be required to be growing their goods , like now ? } then you can have 3 times more vendors if you open on another day or evening . Big business that destroys our local ambience and flavor is not what Sebastopol wants . Their desire to cannabalize the Plaza Sunday Market so that they can build their traffic is like how Walmart builds their traffic and often destroys their competition . No one asked them to do this to our commonunity . { if they want more vendors then do it ANY OTHER TIME = NOT SUNDAY !!!.