The Chattanooga Market will open on schedule this weekend at First Horizon Pavilion with the usual assortment of winter and early spring produce, arts, and crafts, and you will even be able to get a meal from a food truck or a glass of beer or wine, something you couldn’t do last year.
However, there will be no live music and none of the weekly special events patrons have come to know. At least for now, though they might return sometime in July, Public Market’s Executive Director Chris Thomas said.
Thomas said he and his staff are operating under the requests of former Mayor Andy Berke regarding COVID-19 and large gatherings on city property, and until he hears differently from new Mayor Tim Kelly, “We will operate under the city’s previous request and the last instructions given.
“We will ease into the experiences people are accustomed to, and hopefully as the summer proceeds and we pass this vaccine period and we go into fall we will get back to normal.”
Thomas said that before the pandemic the market featured as many as 240 vendors, but this weekend he expects around 160.