Tift Park Community Market closes its third season Saturday

ALBANY — Tift Park Community Market’s 2016 season comes to a close Saturday, and organizers say they hope to end the year with a bang.

“It’s the last weekend of the year, so we’ve got some special things planned,” said Friends of Tift Park C0-chairman Stephen Brimberry. “We’ll have a lot of our regular vendors here, and there will be plenty of activities and entertainment. It should be a fun day for people to come out and enjoy the park and the market.”

One of the special events planned for Saturday is the third annual Doggie Day pet parade and costume contest sponsored by the Albany Humane Society, which stats at noon. Raffles will be going on throughout the day.

Brimberry said special focus days like Doggie Days, the Community Reunion Day sponsored by Georgia Peach Health Care, a performance by entertainer Willie Moody and National Picnic Day that the market has celebrated throughout the year always turn out to be the most popular market days, drawing lots of vendors and, in turn, patrons.

“Creating these events has really kept our vendors happy,” said Brimberry. “Things like those are well-received and keep us up and running.”

As the season winds to a close Brimberry also took time to reflect on the year, which he said was the best year the market has seen since it was started in 2014.

Brimberry said many of the previous year’s vendors returned to the market this season, while several key vendors and events were added to the weekly lineup. New things like “Yoga in the Park” with Sylvia Maxwell from the Albany Yoga Project and vendor Marview Farms were very popular.

Brimberry likened such vendors to anchor stores in a traditional shopping complex, which he said have been a big draw for the market this year and key to keeping people interested and involved in the partnership with the community.

“We averaged about 45 vendors a week this year,” said Brimberry. “It was a very successful year.”

Brimberry also said the market was helped by having excellent weather throughout the year, and by avoiding any serious incidents that could have negatively impacted the perception of the market.

“It was a very smooth year,” he said. “We didn’t have any rain-outs and we didn’t have any incidents.

“We also had some improvements to the park this year, too. We got our new bathrooms, and we opened the year with a freshly painted park. We’ve also gotten approval for the David Campbell Memorial Tree this year.”

The success of this year’s market has Brimberry and fellow organizers excited about 2017. He said there will be an increased focus on having special event days in 2017, as well as trying to introduce more kid-focused activities.

Before the market can get to 2017, however, Brimberry is focused on the closing weekend, urging regulars to return once again and encouraging fist-timers to join the fun before the year is out.

“Come out and see what our community has to offer,” he said. “There’s good, family fun. You’ll get to see your neighbors and friends, and likely make some new ones. We have free entertainment. There’s food. We have a beautiful park, surrounded by beautiful homes. It’s just a great, family and friendly environment.”

Saturday’s fun gets started around 9 a.m. and runs until. Once it closes, the market will return once more on Dec 10 for a Holiday Market and the Jingle Bell Jog run, then will re-open on March 4.