The Best Weekly Markets in the Southeast

Article by Michael Field

ST. PETERSBURG SATURDAY MORNING MARKET - ST. PETERSBURG, FL

The St. Petersburg Saturday Morning Market is one of the largest continually operating weekly markets in the country, occurring every Saturday from 9a.m.to 2p.m., in the Al Lang Field parking lot (home of the Tampa Bay Rowdies soccer team) in downtown St. Petersburg. An average of 10,000 people and 130 vendors attend the market every Saturday.

The market was started in 2002 and is operated by a dedicated non-profit. What is unique about the Saturday Morning Market is that the non-profit is not affiliated with or receives money from any public agencies. “We believe that being independent, while challenging, has given us the latitude to fulfill our vision that would have been challenging otherwise,” explains market manager Mark Johnson who, along with Gail Eggeman and Carol Ringold, is the force behind this bustling St. Pete institution.

Photo Credit: Mike Field

The parking lot at Al Lang Field is centrally located and close to the bustling waterfront, University of South Florida St. Pete satellite campus and downtown’s main commercial thoroughfare, Central Avenue. However, Johnson notes that the parking lot’s size was one of the most attractive features: “We’ve been in 2 street locations and outgrew them both. Doing street closures for a Market have subsequently become prohibitively expensive. The parking lot we are in is the only downtown location that can accommodate us given our vendor count and customer turnout.”

Photo Credit: Mike Field

Recognizing that the market demonstrates the ability to attract thousands of people into downtown from across the region, city officials have started to plan for the kind of public space that can properly accommodate future market growth. Johnson adds, “A city master plan is to convert the whole parking lot (we currently use half) to a public plaza. We plan to use the whole plaza to accommodate up to 200 spaces and 20,000 people. Timing is to be determined.”

Editor’s note: The main market season at Al Lang Field runs October-May, while a smaller summer season sees the market shift about 4 blocks away to Williams Park from June-August.