Group wants to bring public market to Downtown Wilmington

A meeting in Downtown Wilmington tonight hopes to generate public support for a market on Market Street.

Wilmington Downtown is proposing the Wilmington Public Market. It would be a permanent structure that would sell local produce, art and crafts 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It would be on the median between Front and 2nd Streets and be similar to the market that gave Market Street its name.

“This is a concept that’s over 100 years old,” Wilmington Downtown Executive Director John Hinnant said. “We tore down the original market in 1881. It’s something our forefathers and previous leaders have regretted, and what this is, it’s a open-air market. It becomes the thing that everybody must do. No two visits to the market will be the same, because the artists, the crafters, and the farmers will constantly be changing their products out.”

The project would cost the city between $600,000 and $800,000. The meeting starts at 5:30 p.m. at 112 Market Street. It is open to the public.