Central New York Regional Market facts for kids
The Central New York Regional Market (CNY Regional Market) is a huge food market in Syracuse, New York. It's a mix of public and private businesses. In 2010, the market helped sell almost $70 million worth of farm products each year. That's a lot of fruits, veggies, and more!
The market has been at its current spot since 1938. It's run by the Central New York Regional Market Authority. You can find it at 2100 Park Street. It's easy to get to from Interstate Route 81. Other roads like NBT Bank Parkway and Tex Simone Drive also lead there. These roads also serve nearby places like the William F. Walsh Regional Transportation Center and NBT Bank Stadium.
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Market Businesses
The market isn't just for shoppers. It also acts as a landlord for many food and service businesses. These businesses are located near Park Street. For example, you'll find Buda's Meats & Produce and the Market Diner there. There's also an M&T Bank branch and other small shops in the Market Commons building. A Wendy's Restaurant is also on the market grounds.
The market authority also owns other properties. They bought a warehouse at 301 Hiawatha Boulevard East. They also bought the Fox Hollow Movers building. This was for a plan to create a central kitchen and storage for Syracuse City Schools. The market even owns the Byrne Dairy-Syracuse Cold Storage "freezer plant." This plant was built in 1990. Even though the market owns these lands and buildings, some of them pay local property taxes.
Another important part of the market is renting space to food wholesalers. These are businesses that sell large amounts of produce. They are set up in special buildings called "commission houses." The market's website lists three main wholesale tenants: G. & R. D'Agostino Quality Produce, Peter A. Guinta & Son Produce, and Russo Produce.
Shopping at the Market
The Syracuse Regional Market is most famous for its part-time retail markets. These are open to the public. You can visit every Saturday and Sunday, all year round. Thursdays are also open from May until Thanksgiving. The markets are open from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Thursdays and Saturdays are mostly for buying food. You can find fresh produce and plants. Sometimes there are also crafts, antiques, and prepared food sellers. The Sunday market is mainly for crafts, antiques, and flea market items. But you might still find some produce and food vendors there too. In busy times, the market served 40,000 shoppers each week in 2010!
Saturday Market
The Saturday farmers' market is the most popular and busiest. It changes with the seasons.
- Growers' Season: May to October. This is when attendance is highest. You'll find early crops, flower plants, and vegetable "starts" from greenhouses. Later in the season, there's a wide range of fruits and vegetables grown in Central New York.
- Holiday Season: November to December.
- Winter Season: January to April.
In August 2008, about 9,300 cars came to the market on a typical Saturday. By May 2013, about 26,000 shoppers visited on a peak Saturday. To help with crowds, the market has lots of parking. There are 1,000 painted parking spaces. There's also room for 400 more cars on gravel. On Saturdays, when wholesalers aren't busy, another 800 parking spots open up.
When the Saturday market is very busy, almost all 450 vendor spots are used. Some vendors even rent more than one spot. The market website says there are over 300 vendors on Saturdays. In October 2019, a list showed 194 sellers from 19 different counties in Upstate New York. In the coldest months, the entire Saturday market can fit into just one building, called A Shed.
Thursday Market
If the Saturday market is too crowded, some shoppers go on Thursdays instead. On Thursdays, even in busy seasons, only a part of A Shed and the open-air B Aisle are used. Not all your favorite vendors might be there. In March 2019, there was concern that the Thursday market was getting smaller.
Historically, the Thursday market used to stay open into the evening. People would buy large amounts of produce to freeze or can for the weekend. In 2010, the Thursday market was open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. By 2013, the hours changed to match the weekend hours: 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Sunday Market
The Sunday market is mostly a flea market. In October 2019, a list showed 59 flea market sellers from 10 Upstate New York counties.
Market Tokens
The Welcome Center is the main office during market hours. It's a small brick building between A Shed and the Market Commons building. This is where you can get special tokens to spend at the market.
- EBT Silver Tokens: These are worth $1 each. They help people using food stamps (EBT cards) buy from different vendors. Many vendors don't have machines to swipe EBT cards. So, you can swipe your EBT card at the Welcome Center. It turns your money into silver tokens. These tokens never expire. You can return unused tokens with your receipt to get your money back on your card. Produce vendors don't give cash change for these tokens.
- Gold Tokens: These are worth $5 each. They are for shoppers who prefer not to carry cash. You can use your Visa, MasterCard, or Discover card at the Welcome Center. It turns your money into gold tokens. There are no extra fees. These tokens also never expire, and you can return unused ones with a receipt. Vendors will give you cash change for gold tokens.
Retail Market Layout
The main retail market area is a fenced-in space. It has several buildings and open areas. These are called A Shed, B Aisle, C Shed, D Shed, E Shed, and F Shed. B Aisle is an open-air area between two buildings. Vendor spots are painted on the ground there.
Many of the buildings have been updated over the years. But the layout of A to E sheds is very old. It looks almost the same as when the market first opened. A and C sheds have an old-fashioned brick design. A Shed is wider and has windows along the top for natural light. D and E sheds used to be simple open barns with just roofs. They were even moved from an older city market location!
These older sheds are designed to be simple and efficient. They allow vendors to easily unload and reload their vehicles. Vendors set up tables inside to face shoppers walking through the middle. During colder months, A, E, and F sheds close their overhead doors from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. This helps keep some heat in. But for most of the year, the market is like an open-air space. Only the roofs protect from rain. Most vendors don't have electricity. There are a few public restrooms in the newer F Shed and updated E Shed. You can also use the restrooms in the Market Commons building.
F Shed is the newest permanent building in the retail market. It opened in April 2013. Before F Shed, there were just temporary tents in that spot. F Shed is 273 feet long and 80 feet wide. It has space for 75 vendor stalls. Its roof is made of a special see-through fabric. It even has a heating system that can melt snow off the roof! F Shed cost $1.5 million to build. For some younger visitors, F Shed is known for band concerts or winter festivals, not just for selling produce.
How the Market is Run
The market has a team of seven staff members. It's guided by a board of 13 directors. Farmers have the most power on this board. This is because of the state law that created the market. The law also says how many people from each county can be on the board. These counties are Onondaga, Oswego, Cayuga, Madison, Cortland, Oneida, and eastern Wayne. Each county chooses its own representative. The head of the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets also sits on the board.
The market tries to pay for itself. It doesn't usually get ongoing money from the government. In 2020-2021, the market planned to make and spend about $1.778 million. Most of its money comes from renting out spaces to businesses and vendors. The biggest cost is paying its staff.
For comparison, another market, the Genesee Valley Regional Market Authority near Rochester, is much bigger. It focuses more on real estate development than on being a farmers' market.
In 2019, an audit said the market's property and equipment were worth over $6.5 million.
Market History
The market's buildings were largely created as part of The New Deal. This was a plan by the government in the 1930s. It helped America recover from the Great Depression.
Older Markets
Before the current market, farmers in Central New York sold their produce in "city markets." These were less formal. Some old market spots were in Clinton Square downtown, near the Erie Canal. Later, there was a market on the north side of Syracuse. It was near Pearl and North Salina streets. In the 1920s and 30s, Syracuse tried to make this market bigger. But it was still not good enough. City officials decided to move the market and make it a regional one. Today, the old Oswego Boulevard where the market was is now covered by Route 81.
Regional Market Authority
New York State created the Central New York Regional Market Authority in 1933. The state also set up similar market authorities in other parts of New York. But today, only the Syracuse market and the Genesee Valley market (near Rochester) are still run this way.
In May 1935, officials chose the Park Street location in Syracuse. It was near Hiawatha Boulevard East. This area was known as the Chapman site. It cost about $75,000 to buy. But actually, it was more than a dozen land deals to get 56 acres. The total cost was around $159,000 in 1930s money.
Some people didn't like the Park Street location. They said it was too swampy and expensive. They also thought it was a "dead end" part of Syracuse. But Governor Herbert H. Lehman approved the Park Street choice anyway. Deeds for the land started being recorded in December 1935.
Old maps show the area was indeed marshy. It was south of the New York Central Railroad line. It was also near Ley Creek, which flows into Onondaga Lake. The land used to have lumber companies. Before that, it had salt beds where salt was taken from water using the sun. An old canal, the Oswego Canal, also ran through the market site. This canal was filled in by 1931.
Building plans started in December 1935. The federal Public Works Administration (PWA) helped pay for the project. The PWA gave a $450,000 loan and a $486,728 grant. The total cost was about $1.1 million. This means the federal government paid for over 83 percent of the first project cost. Carl W. Clark was the architect. A. Friederich and Sons Co. built it.
The 1940s and 1950s
The market was very popular in the 1940s and 1950s. But fewer people came as large grocery stores became common in the 1960s.
The $8.4 Million Renovation
In 1998, the market received an $8.4 million grant from the state. This money was for a big renovation. Planning for this work actually started 13 years earlier, in 1985. At that time, the market buildings were old and falling apart. There wasn't enough parking for customers. Also, hundreds of vendors were on a waiting list because there wasn't enough space.
The renovation project changed many times. It started as a $25 million idea, then shrunk to $24 million, then $12 million, then $3 million. Finally, $8.4 million was approved.
During this time, many new things were built nearby. The Carousel Center mall (now Destiny USA) opened in 1990. The Byrne Dairy-Syracuse Cold Storage plant was built on market land. The MacArthur Stadium baseball park was rebuilt and reopened in 1997. The William F. Walsh Regional Transportation Center, a train and bus station, opened in 1998. All these new buildings led to new roads being built. These are now NBT Bank Parkway, Tex Simone Drive, and Farmers' Market Place.
The long wait for money caused problems for the market's leaders. Ben Vitale became the temporary director in 1997 and stayed for 22 years. He had been on the market's board since 1993. Around this time, interest in "local foods" and farmers' markets started to grow across the country. But the Syracuse market was in bad shape.
One of the first improvements was in 1998. A $600,000 state grant paid to build Farmers' Market Place. This used to be just an access lane.
Between 1996 and 2003, some old buildings were torn down. These included a hot dog stand and an ice house. The Russo Building was also removed. This area later became the F Shed. Old railroad tracks were also removed. This made room for what is now called the "truck court." Some old tracks are still embedded in Tex Simone Drive today.
Renovations were also done to A Shed, the commission houses, and the Market Commons building.
