Susan Haggard (left) and Alice Rooney (right) visiting at the first Wrangell Community Market of the year, last Saturday. Haggard had set up a booth to sell some of her homemade salsa.
The Nolan Center held its first community market of the season last Saturday, after a six-month hiatus over the winter. The Wrangell Community Market typically runs from April through September, and brings out many town residents eager to visit and sell homemade goods. Everything from homemade salsa, to local artwork, to freshly baked pastries and snacks could be found at the market. This is the seventh season for the community market, according to Nolan Center Director Cyni Crary, and the second one organized by the Nolan Center.
"Kris Reed used to run it," she said. "This was just a small group of people who put this together, affiliated with nobody. When they put it all together, Charity Hommel designed the logo, and it started out there by the elementary school, underneath the covered area. The idea was to have it kind of like a farmer's market, you know, a Saturday market."
From a 2012 article from the Wrangell Sentinel, the inaugural Wrangell Community Market was held on May 19 of that year, and was held once a month every spring and summer. Crary said that the Nolan Center took over organizing the markets in 2018, when Reed moved away. This season is a little different from previous seasons, she said, in that there will be two community markets a month instead of just one. A lot of the markets have been scheduled for weekends when a cruise ship will be in town, or during big events such as Bearfest in July. The markets have historically been good draws for locals, she said, and she wants to try and inspire increased interest by hosting the markets more regularly when tourists are in town.
Crary also said that they are trying to continue with the "farmers market" vibe of the Wrangell Community Market, and will be trying to bring back some of the older aspects of the event from years past. This includes things like live music, kids' activities and games, and moving the market outdoors instead of keeping it inside the Nolan Center.
"Each week, or each time, I'm going to try to bring in some sort of different music or entertainment," Crary said. "Then when it's nice out we want to try and pull some of it outside, and maybe some kids' activities like face painting."
The next community market will take place on Saturday, April 27 at the Nolan Center.
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