The Grand Junction Farmers Market, known as the Market on Main, offers a sense of community among food vendors and customers. Everything Thursday night from 5:30-8:30p.m., vendors line the street from Third to Seventh St. with fresh food, drinks, performances, and people from all walks of life.
There’s many artists as well. “We do something called hydro dipping,” Diana Reiter of Nardiam Kustoms said. “It’s three stages of painting involving water. Anything you can submerge in water, you can put a pattern on.”
Having started on June 20 and going through the summer, the Market on Main is set to have its last day Sept. 12. However, there is still much to see and do at these gatherings.
On top of the Avalon Theatre on Seventh and Main St. is the Sunset Terrace, where cocktails and live music can be enjoyed. Down on the streets, people can visit many of the local restaurants: Rockslide Brewery, Blue Moon Bar & Grill, Suehiro’s, Cafe Sol and Clover Tavern all open their doors to welcome people from the event.
“What do I do? That’s the hardest part. I do mixed sodas, like specialties,” The Bubbly Chicks owner Staci Hillman said. “Like the old phosphate sodas, but with a modern twist.”
Many vendors on the streets have tons of goods to offer. Fresh peaches and vegetables from local farms, hand-crafted jewelry, jams, jellies, salsas, cheesecakes, pretzels, and more can be found from booth to booth. “We always tell people to get extra peaches. Our slogan is ‘making friends, one peach at a time,” Mosher-Talley Orchard owner Eric Talley said.
On the busier street corners, often times there will be performances from youth dance programs, live bands and musicians, and the occasional belly dancer. Members of the Grand Valley Real Estate Group set up a competition where kids use squirt bottles to propel small plastic ships through a track of water in a race.
Often the Justice League of Hope will dress in superhero outfits to promote their mission of bringing hope to young children and families in hospitals. Sometimes there will be cosplayers to run into, such as the GhostBusters team.
The Market will still offer many vendors and local artists in the closing weeks, and feature performances by local bands as well, including The 12 Step Dropouts and No Outlet.
