DWN TWN Art & Farmers Market 2014
I spent some time this weekend at the Downtown Artist and Farmers Market in El Paso’s Union Plaza District. It’s been going on for a few years now and has really taken shape from its humble beginnings.
While browsing around, I walked a few blocks over to see how the area has changed in the last year with all the recent development activity. One new addition is a large pedestrian mall following Durango street from Overland to the site of the new stadium. There’s been a lot of talk about not having enough parking for the El Paso Chihuahua’s baseball games. This looks like a good way to shuttle foot traffic up the colorful walkway from the downtown transit terminal across from the Civic Center.
The artist market has grown leaps and bounds since the addition of the farmers market. Food trucks also frequent, parking down on San Francisco street, giving patrons plenty of grub to choose from.
One thing that would really help would be if more of the businesses in the area would open up for lunch on Saturday (Hello! the Garden and Brick & Mortar…) On the corner of San Antonio and Anthony streets sits The Mix , a cool retail/ shopping venue. A few retail stores were open but a pub and nearby restaurant opened later in the afternoon. Bummer.
With plenty of parking and new vendors, the Art Market is worth a weekend checkout. It’ll be interesting to see the area continue to grow once baseball takes hold downtown. There should be more to see and do as this and future seasons get going.
