St. Clair County debuts farmers market at Belle-Clair Fairgrounds pavilion
St. Clair County is expanding its monthly flea market at Belle-Clair Fairgrounds Park to include a farmers market.
Managers have set aside part of a newly renovated pavilion for vendors selling fruits and vegetables, eggs and other farm products, according to Jann Severit, director of the park’s exposition center.
“We’ll see where it takes us,” she said.
If momentum builds this summer and in the coming years, Severit could envision the farmers market someday resembling Soulard Market in St. Louis, with vendors who also sell flowers, meats, cheeses and other dairy, bakery goods, soaps and textiles.
For now, the Belle-Clair farmers market is starting small. A handful of vendors showed up in May, before the growing season really kicked in. Severit expects a few more this weekend.
“It really goes well with our flea market,” she said. “We’ve always had a few people selling produce, but we didn’t call it a farmers market, and we didn’t have a spot reserved for it.”
Part of the problem was that the exposition center didn’t have enough room for a farmers market, and open-air pavilions on the property were in serious disrepair, Severit said.
St. Clair County recently spent about $400,000 to renovate the three pavilions, according to Jim Brede, director of buildings for the county’s Public Building Commission. Workers replaced some poles and trusses and installed new roofs, water and electric lines, fans and lights.
“We like to preserve instead of tearing down and building new whenever possible,” Brede said, noting the historic fair signage also was saved.
County bought fairgrounds in 2022
With legal help from the city of Belleville, St. Clair County bought the fairgrounds property for $2.35 million four years ago with plans to bring back the St. Clair County Fair, which had been discontinued after 2014, and Belle-Clair Speedway races.
The pavilions will be used for multiple purposes, including housing livestock during Fair St. Clair July 30-31 and Aug. 1, Brede said.
Bryan Lehr, a Columbia farmer who has been selling produce, jellies and other farm goods in Belleville for more than 25 years, has signed up for a booth at the Belle-Clair farmers market. He also plans to help with promotions and recruiting more vendors.
Lehr expects farmers to benefit from large crowds at the flea market, as well as working conditions in the covered pavilion.
“We’re looking at no more rainouts,” he said. “(The pavilions have) got fans in them, so when it’s 100 degrees out in July and August, at least we’ll have a little breeze going.”
Lehr formerly sold produce at Old Town Market, a farmers market that operated in several places in downtown Belleville. Belleville Main Street managed it for 11 years before pulling out in 2022.
Lehr volunteered to manage Old Town in 2023 while former Belleville Mayor Patty Gregory worked on a plan to convert a city-owned building next to City Hall into a year-round City Market, but that project never materialized.
“To be honest, I was tired of dealing with the city, and Patty Gregory wasn’t being very helpful,” Lehr said, noting that her plan focused on art and other merchandise instead of fruits and vegetables.
For the past two years, Lehr and two other vendors selling jewelry and tie-dyed T-shirts have set up booths outside LongStory Coffee on Saturdays under the name “Market at the Station.”
‘We need all the help we can get’
Lehr will continue at LongStory three Saturdays a month this summer, but he hopes to see the Belle-Clair farmers market expand to every Saturday next year and eventually grow to rival Vine Street Market in O’Fallon and The Land of Goshen Community Market in Edwardsville.
“We’re looking for vendors,” he said. “We’re looking for customers. We need all the help we can get.”
The Belle-Clair flea market has been operating for more than 50 years. Some 300 to 400 vendors sell antiques, crafts, vintage clothing and other items. Hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays and 9 to 3 p.m. Sundays on the third full weekend of each month.
The farmers market will begin an hour earlier, although some vendors may leave at noon, according to Severit.
“We’re even talking about having a petting zoo,” she said.
Last month, the administration of Belleville Mayor Jenny Gain Meyer recommended that the city reject a nearly $425,000 matching grant that the state of Illinois awarded it three years ago to renovate the city-owned building next to City Hall for a City Market. Officials had determined that the building wasn’t suitable due to high renovation costs and lack of parking.
In May, the City Council voted to table the matter and try to find another location for a farmers market that would meet the grant criteria before an end-of-year deadline.
“We’re trying to figure out if there’s a solution,” Meyer said.
Vendors who want to try operating a booth at the Belle-Clair farmers market can do so free for one month. The cost will be $20 a month for the remainder of the season, through October.
