Downtown Chattanooga Market not returning for 7th year

Q&A: General manager hopes city market can return one day

The popular Sunday afternoon Chattanooga Market, which for six years has drawn artists, craftsmen, farmers and thousands of their customers to the First Tennessee Pavilion, is going away.

Founder and General Manager Nick Jessen said even though last year was the market’s best, he is canceling the April-through-December event because it doesn’t make enough money.

“While 2007 was the strongest year financially and from an attendance numbers standpoint and a vendor numbers standpoint, it’s just really not reached a point of independent operation,” Mr. Jessen said.

The market, which opened in 2002 to offer local artists and growers a place to sell their products and produce, drew an average of 3,000 visitors each Sunday last year, he said.

Area charities frequently raised money through various market events. Last year, these events raised about $100,000 for local organizations, Mr. Jessen said.

Frank Burke, manager of Finley Stadium and First Tennessee Pavilion, said the market was by far the most regular user of the pavilion.

“I think it’s a loss for all of us,” Mr. Burke said. “Nick has been a great tenant and the market was great for all of us in the community.”

Mary Kilbride was a semi-regular patron of the market and often attended with her family.

“I will miss it personally, but also for the city,” she said. The market offered a “great family environment” on weekends.

“It’s a shame people weren’t supporting those vendors,” she said.

Rudd Montgomery of Push Hard Lumber Yard on Signal Mountain has been selling his custom-made furniture at the market since it opened. He called news of the market’s closing “a double whammy.”

“It’s devastating,” said Mr. Montgomery, whose sawmill and part of his lumber stock was destroyed last month in a fire. “It was always exciting to me that I felt like I was in on something at the ground level and that I was watching something grow from hard work.”

Mr. Montgomery said the market served as his storefront. Without it, he will have to rely on art shows to sell his furniture.

“They can be expensive with hotels and food and travel,” he said. “I had my best (sales) days ever at the market.”

Mr. Jessen owned and operated the market with his wife, Elizabeth. Mr. Jessen was the only full-time employee.

The Chattanooga Market, he said, had two main sources of revenue: vendor fees and sponsorships. The number of vendors increased from an average of 69 in 2006 to 78 last year, Mr. Jessen said.

The first two years, the market operated in the red, he said.

For the last four years, the Lyndhurst Foundation subsidized the market through a $150,000 grant administered by River City Co. Annual grant payments to the market declined in each year. This year, the payment would have been $7,000, Mr. Jessen said.

“The idea was to get the market to a point where it did not need the subsidy and it has not reached that point,” Mr. Jessen said. “Without that subsidy, the market would not have survived the last four years.”

Market sponsorships in 2007 totaled $40,000, he said. Vendor fees were based on a percentage of sales for each market and those numbers were not growing enough to make it financially feasible to continue to run the market, Mr. Jessen said.

Even with the subsidy, Mr. Jessen said his average net income over the six years was around $13,000 per year.

River City Co. provided office space, bookkeeping and support for the market, according to president Paul Brock.

“Nick and Elizabeth did a superb job and ran a great venue that was a tremendous asset to our community,” he said. “We are going to miss it.”

River City has begun looking into other opportunities or resources to support the vendors who used the market, but “at this point, there is nothing substantive,” Mr. Brock said.

“We’ll just have to look for new ways to support our artisans and farmers,” he said.