Redesign and reinvent the site of the Cooper-Young Community Farmers Market where everybody knows your name.
Leader
caitlin dupuigrenet
Location
1000 Cooper Memphis, TN 38104
Located in Midtown, Memphis, the historic Cooper Young district is a lively neighborhood with over 200 flourishing businesses. Cooper Young has over 1,600 households, 12 worship communities, two public schools, and a strong community association. Our Saturday morning market (calling the First Congo parking lot home) provides a bustling and friendly central setting for shopping and socializing that allows vendors to grow healthy relationships with residents who are clamoring for more local, sustainably produced foods and crafts.
The Cooper Young Community Farmers Market wants to invest in our host, the First Congregational Church, the neighborhood and market with a more beautiful, accessible, inviting and innovative site. We are raising funds to improve our entrances at Cooper, Blythe and Walker. The funds will also be used to increase seating, add interactive art and paint our storage container. Improving our entrances in a creative and visible way will benefit our vendors by increasing traffic and creating a more powerful sense of place on the corner of Cooper and Walker. Our customers and neighbors will also be part of a more vibrant local marketplace.
We will bring community artists, designers and stakeholders together to decide how to define three distinct entrances to the market (Cooper st, Blythe st and Walker st) through the use of temporary installations, define attractive and comfortable seating areas, and rework all market signage. Special thanks to our partner Andy Kitsinger with The Development Studio for developing our design and layouts.
Rendering of proposed layout and design (entrance on Cooper):
Rendering of proposed layout and design (entrance on Walker):
The longer term development plans for the farmers market include a temporary or permanent structure that will provide shade from the sun, wind and rain as well as provide easier access to electricity and other facilities. The ioby project is a great way for the board to develop more capacity for fundraising and accomplish a first phase of our development goals.
