GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – When it opens Saturday, 70 vendors selling homemade and homegrown goods will be available for customers.
Two years ago, the Downtown Market was born out of an idea.
George Aquino, the chair of the Downtown Market Board, said, “There are 12,000 farms (surrounding the Grand Rapids area) and they all need a venue to promote what they are producing.”
Now the idea of a market is taking shape.
Aquino said, “The main part is the main market. We are going to have 23 vendors there. And we are going to have a restaurant that is going to be a farm to table restaurant, then a brewery in the back end. On the second floor we are going to have the first children’s kitchen in the US. We are going to have an event space where you can have meetings and weddings.”
The indoor portion of the market is set to open this summer, but it’s unfinished state now is in sharp contrast to the shuttered look of the buildings surrounding it.
