The Whitewater City Market will return to Cravath Lakefront Park on May 1 and run every Tuesday through the end of October – rain or shine.

This year’s city market involves a few new changes. It will now run from 4 to 7 p.m. and will come to campus July 3 for a special merge with the sesquicentennial concert series celebration.

“As part of the sesquicentennial celebration, there was a desire to have public concerts for the community,” Whitewater City Market Co-Manager Kristine Zaballos said. “So, there will be six over the course of the summer for the campus community and the greater community, where we welcome people to come and listen to music, bring a blanket, and we’ll have food for purchase as well as the market on that day,”  

The event will take place at the campus mall and near the arboretum. The two events, Whitewater City Market and the concert series, have joined together in part because the city market can’t use the lakefront area around July 4, but it has made for a special collaborative event nonetheless.   

As for the rest of the Whitewater City Market season, people can expect to find most of their same favorite vendor stalls and the same welcoming community feel that makes the City Market what it is.

“We wanted a place where everybody felt welcome,”  Zaballos said.

The Whitewater City Market organizers encourage vendors to prepare multiple sales options so the community can have some lower cost options.

“I know price can be difficult because sometimes you have to pay more for locally grown produce,” Zaballos said.

The market also encourages more people, including college students, to become vendors themselves and makes it easy for them start.

“For people who have never been to the market, maybe they have an idea or artwork they want to sell,” Zaballos said. “People can ask for an incubator stall, and they can have a spot for free for up to three markets. We want to make it easy for people to see if there is a market for their stuff.”

Karen McCulloch is a current vendor at the market and an alumna of the UW-Whitewater. She said she owns a business called KMA Jewelry, which sells “intuitively designed, skillfully crafted pieces with an environmental and social conscience every step of the way.”

“One thing that I am proud of and that I love about the City Market is that it is truly local,” McCulloch said. “It is strictly entrepreneurial, which lends itself to really unique offerings which makes it special.”

McCulloch said she believes she has been able to reach a whole new customer base as a result of the city market.

“It has been such a gift,” McCulloch said. “I’ve been able to reach new customers and it’s provided me the confidence by growing my business. The city market is such a wonderful place, and it’s just what our community needed.”

Both McCulloch and Zaballos encourage students and community members alike to attend and support the City Market which will be held Tuesdays in Cravath Lakefront Park and now on campus July 3.

“It’s kind of like throwing a party every week,” Zaballos said.

For more information on the city market, or to find updates and possibly student promotion days, visit the Whitewater City Market page on Facebook.