West Park Market Opens in GP Park Saturday

West Park Farmers Market Manager Jennifer Meldrum will be cleaning up Kercheval Avenue in the next few days, planting flowers and readying the stretch of that will be transformed Saturday for start of the ninth annual season.

The market will feature some new vendors this year as well as those Grosse Pointers have come to love and to look for on Saturday mornings, Meldrum said.

Among the items one can find at the market are: locally grown vegetables and fruits, flowers, baked goods, jewelry, gardening and wooden wares, candles, birdhouses and wildlife goods, oils and vinegars and more.

This is the first season Meldrum has had to create a waiting list for one specific kind of vendor: jewelry, she said, explaining she's had so much interest from individuals selling jewelry the list was necessary. The variety of goods at the market are what make it thrive and having too much of one kind of product is counter-productive to those vendors, she said, noting when there are many of one type of vendor, they give her feedback that they did not sell as much.

This year, there are two special dates for the market, including one nighttime market on July 21 in which many local restaurants and food vendors will offer market-goers tastes of their product. The nighttime market will begin at 6 p.m. and continue through 10 p.m. offering live music from Purdy Good band as well as a variety of additional vendors from the traditional Saturday morning. There will not be a daytime market on this day.

The other special date is Sept. 29, when the market will host its fall festival along with Defer Elementary's F4 festival, Meldrum said. This is when market-goers can find pumpkins, gourds and a host of fall themed products to decorate their homes and to cook with, she said. The market will be open from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. for the fall festival.

The market operates on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. typically from Saturday, May 12 to Saturday, Sept. 29. There is off-street parking available in a lot between Lakepointe and Beaconsfield.

For more information about the market, visit its website through Grosse Pointe Park's site. The market is open rain or shine and rarely is cancelled due to weather.