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By Brad McEwen

ALBANY — Having been established as one of the Good Life City’s most popular Saturday attractions over the last two years, organizers of Albany’s Tift Park Community Market, are hoping this weekend’s reopening will signal the start of the market’s best season.

The third season gets going Saturday when the market once again reopens the same day that Albany is filled with visitors who will in town for the Snickers Marathon and the downtown Mardi Gras Street Festival, giving community members and guests alike plenty to get excited about.

Stephen Brimberry, a member of the Friends of Tift Park group that organized and continues to champion the weekly crafts and farmer’s market in Tift Park, said he expects this year to be a success with a variety of new vendors and plethora of activities planned throughout the year.

“It’s really exciting,” Brimberry said. “Basically, all of our vendors are returning and this year we have a lot of new vendors joining us. We’re going to have events and themes throughout the year, including this weekend.”

Brimberry said the community market will again feature fresh produce and other homemade food items from several area growers, along with market staples, like the Soap Cottage, which offer the unique items that have made the market a popular shopping destination.

Although he is excited to see so many returning vendors Brimberry is especially excited about “newbies” like the Blue Heron Bakehouse, which specializes in local baked goods, and Marview Farms, which is know for its organic vegetables and meats.

“Marview Farms joining us is a big deal,” Brimberry said. “They have a great client base going from Albany to their farm in Arabi, so they decided to come to us. Having them is going to be a big plus for us. They’re like an anchor store coming.”

As excited as Brimberry is about the new vendors, he’s also excited that there many different vendors that carry a variety of items are drawn to the market. He attributes that to the support the community has shown the market over the past two years.

Although he expects more than 50 vendors for the opening weekend, he said having an average of roughly 35 vendors each week has kept the crowds coming, which, in his mind, means the market is becoming a source of pride among many in the community.

“We don’t keep exact numbers each Saturday, but we have a general idea,” said Brimberry about market attendance. “The vendors wouldn’t be coming back if there wasn’t anyone coming.

“It’s done really well over the last two years. And I tell people all the time that it’s the community that is making this happen. We have a lot of people that appreciate it and support it. It’s the community that makes this market what it is.”

Brimberry said the market also has had a lot of support from organizations in the community as well, including the city of Albany, which is its main sponsor. The city helps by allowing use of the park and by providing support through the Albany Recreation and Parks Department.

Brimberry said that Phoebe and Keep Albany-Dougherty Beautiful (KADB) have helped as well. KADB has shown its support by helping manage a bank account where anyone who is interested in supporting Tift Park can make donations.

“We are set up through Keep Albany-Dougherty Beautiful to accept donations for park improvements,” Brimberry said. “We don’t advertise that very often, but people ask all the time how they can help. All of the money that’s collected goes back to the park, not to benefit the market. We’re about preserving, promoting and protecting the park.”

In fact, Brimberry credits the park with being the main attraction for most of the visitors who come out each Saturday.

“It’s the park that sells the market,” said Brimberry. “There’s other types of craft markets and farmer’s markets, but they’re not set up in such a beautiful place.”

In addition to the many vendors that will be on-site throughout the year Brimberry said there will also be live music every Saturday, including performances by Wimpy Bowden, DJ Christine and others.

In keeping with the desire to make sure the community market has a family friendly atmosphere, Brimberry said on select Saturday’s throughout the year, Moms Life, a booth run by Sumar Favreau, will be doing crafts with children.

Because having a healthy lifestyle is also part of the vibe of the market, Brimberry said Sylvia Maxwell of The Albany Yoga Project will be leading a yoga session each Saturday at 10 a.m. beginning March 12.

“We’re really trying to provide different things for people,” said Brimberry. “We want people to have an opportunity to find good products and do fun things.”

That focus on keeping the market fresh and making a fun place to go has helped raised the profile of the Tift Community Market, not just within the community, but outside of it as well.

“It’s becoming one of Albany’s biggest attractions,” Brimberry said. “It’s number four on Trip Advisor. At one time it was higher than that. It’s only at number four now because it hasn’t started back up yet. It’s a lot of fun and it’s going to get even better.”

Naturally this weekend’s kickoff won’t feature as many of the produce vendors that will be seen later in the year when the crops start coming in, but Brimberry said there will be plenty of other things going on.

This Saturday is National Arts and Crafts Day, which will be the overriding theme for the market.

“This weekend we’ll have more arts and crafts vendors than farmers,” said Brimberrry. “It’ll be a few weeks before the crops come in and they start coming every Saturday. We will have folks with goat cheese and with honey, though.”

The Tift Park Community Market will be up and running 9 a.m.-2 p.m. every Saturday through Oct. 29 and will feature different vendors and activities each week. To learn more about the market or to keep up with each week’s events, visit www.tiftparkcommunitymarket.com of visit the Tift Park Community Market Facebook page.

Vendors wanting to get information about getting a space, which are all free, can also visit the website.