The Norris Park location appeared to be a done deal at the June 6 council meeting, when Sonia Caldwell, representing the Main Street organization, first approached the council.

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But at Monday night's regular meeting, city staff recommended the West Ward location to Caldwell after reviewing the Norris Park site. Staff concluded that there wasn't enough parking for vendors and customers at the park and that closed streets would result in too much traffic congestion.

Caldwell asked at the June 6 meeting that if the market moved to Norris Park, that G and East First Streets be closed down Saturday mornings from 8 a.m.until produce is sold out, usually around 11 a.m. or noon.

Although City Manger Kurt Fritsch reiterated his wish for the market to expand, closing off streets would lead to vehicle and public traffic congestion. Street closing should be the exception rather than the rule, he noted.

Having the market at the park has its drawbacks, he continued, with 20-30 vendors and their parked vehicles leaving little space for customer parking. Pedestrian safety would be compromised with so many vehicles stopping and parking in the area.

McCook Police Chief Ike Brown agreed. As a regular customer of the Farmers Market, he too wants it to grow, he said, but the area would become crowded with people and children crossing between and behind parked and stopped vehicles.

With G and East First Streets closed down to hold 20-30 vendors, the area would fill up pretty fast, he said.

Fritsch said city staff looked at alternatives to Norris Park, such as Barnett Park, which was too far from downtown and the Red Willow County Fairgrounds. They finally came up with the Wes Ward building as a user-friendly location.

"There would be no problem parking and vendors could create aisles with their vehicles," he said.

The West Ward property takes up an entire city block, from West Fourth to West Fifth on the 300 block. The city recently purchased the building from D. Jon Morrison in April for $100,000.

Caldwell was amiable in moving the market to the West Ward location but admitted her first choice is still Norris Park.

The park is centrally located so it could be assessed by people without vehicles who want to buy fresh food, she said. The park also offered restrooms, a drinking fountain and would be a shady location for people to linger and enjoy the park, she added. After recent divisions this year among some residents about the removal of older trees in the park, this would be a way to draw people back together.

But Fritsch pointed to the concerns of the city about closing down streets. A park gets busy, he pointed out and whenever a street is closed down, it tends to draws more traffic.

Council member Colleen Grant said she didn't want to take advantage of the residents who live in the area who already have the streets near the park closed down for special events.

"That's asking a lot of them, to close off the street every week," she said.

Still concerned about restrooms and drinking fountains, Caldwell asked about the availability of Memorial Auditorium.

That wouldn't work, as there was no way to secure the facility, Fritsch said.

Once the auditorium is open, the gym area is opened as well.

West Ward would work good as an interim site to see if the market will expand, he said. People already come into the city on the weekends for garage sales and auctions and with the market on West Fifth, it would get better visibility than its current location in an alley between A and B streets.

Mayor Dennis Berry directed Caldwell to the Public Works Department to set things up for the West Ward location.