We're losing another amenity
 

It was bad enough when we got blindsided by the abrupt closing of the Life Long Learning College, now it's being reported that the Spanish Springs weekly Farmer's Market is being shut down for the summer and will not return until the snowbirds come back. There was no public discussion, just a decision by the Entertainment Dept director. BTW, Brownwood will keep their Saturday Farmer's Market throughout the summer with reduced hours, 9a to 1p.

Kinda of a kick in the face to the thousands of us who live here year round and enjoyed having the opportunity to purchase fresh fruit and vegetables. IMHO, it seems everything's going south, literally.

It's probably simply a matter of the clients not making enough money in the summer season. If there's not enough support for something, it's difficult to justify keeping it going.

There's a farmers market in Fruitland Park right on 27/441 in Tuesday and I believe that Leesburg also has on in their town center.

I don't know that I'd consider the farmer's market an amenity.

I wouldn't count this as an amenity. Maybe that one just isn't making enough money to make it worth it for the vendors.

Not so sure this would be a "public discussion" item..............if the cash-flow ain't there, the Market won't either.

The Life Long Learning College was shut down because it was challenged by a lawsuit that would have upped the prices to where it really wouldn't have been easily affordable to most of us because we would have had to pay for deaf signers. Somebody didn't just say...We are going to stop this nice thing.

AND if you want to go to the Farmer's Market....drive to Brownwood.

Those folks with the carrots don't just want to stand there in the heat without making money. It isn't entertainment. It is their income. They pay for their booths.

It isn't about Everything's Going SOUTH , it is about real stuff that is happening and it is about the way things work.

Holiday countdown
Katie Belle's all day entertainment
Shuttle parking/pickup in Spanish Springs
Executive Golf Course Restaurants
Holiday Parades (now resident run)

were not "amenities" also.

There are still plenty of amenities to keep me happy here.

You can always sell, make a nice profit, and try to find another community with better amenities.

These items are not amenities if you're talking about your amenities fees. It's simply business as practiced in any free-enterprise system.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Polar Bear (Post 1388348) These items are not amenities

100% correct. Town squares and golf cart transportation, high liability items to a business in the free enterprise system are also not amenities.

We have been in the Spanish Springs area a few times lately when the market was operating and it was obvious to us that the number of vendors had dwindled from what we remembered and that there were relatively few people shopping. Hard to tell which was the cause and which the effect, but clearly there appeared to be a significant decline from what it once was.

It was also reported that the vendors were given the opportunity to participate in the vendor nights at Spanish Springs. It appears that some of them might take advantage of this offer. This would be a good thing as the number of vendors have dwindled on the vendor nights at Spanish Springs (and LSL as well). As mentioned many times already, it is not an amenity, but a question of dollars and cents. If we do not support these vendors they will close and go else where, and apparently we are not...

I would suspect that the demographics suggest the SS area is somewhat older and therefore less interested in accumulating "stuff" and less likely to want to fight for parking and wade through crowds. The vendors will tend to follow the consumers, wherever they may be.

I would suggest that given the choice of shutting down one of the two farmers markets, the one that stayed open is where new homes are being built. Bummer, always looked forward to the golf cart trip to SS Thursday morning, with ice in the cooler and getting delicious fresh fish.

Definitely a free market decision of the vendors not selling enough vs the villages deciding to close it for the summer.

my friends and I were shopping and having lunch at Spanish Springs last week on farmer's market day. It was very small and not many people were shopping there. I don't think it's The Villages fault. People will shop where they can get quality items.