2021 Opening Weekends

OpeningDay_2021

We have some exciting news about the 2021 Season, and wanted to share a few key dates/details with you.

2021 Vendor Meeting

  • 10am, Saturday Feb 13, 2021
  • Will be virtual (Zoom), link to be published
  • All current and prospective vendors welcome

The Chattanooga Market

  • Opening Weekend: April 24-25, 2021; setup on Fri April 23
  • Hours: Sat:10a-5p, Sun 11a-4p (which really is 5p on this particular day)
  • Vendors: about 60% of normal capacity; Farms, Food Trucks and Arts/Crafts
  • Traditional layout: no
  • Reserved Booths: not yet
  • Regular Season Hours: Sundays 11a-4p

Over the course of the 2021 Season, we hope to see the full return of our normal layout, vendor mix and capacities. But it’s clear that we are going to be dealing with social distancing and other health precautions for at least the first half of the season, and are adjusting our format accordingly.

Food Trucks will be permitted outside on Reggie White Blvd (Street Food/Oktoberfest style); we will be placing tables/chairs outdoors as well for our guests. There will not be any inside dining for the first two months, minimum. Also, the registration procedures for food trucks will now align with farms/artists – signup in advance if you are going to attend, etc.

Inside will hold approximately 115 vendors (our normal layout is 165 with a large portion dedicated to the food court/stage area). The extra space will allow for more artisans to participate than in the past.

A few historical festivals/events will be celebrated during the first half of the season (Mother’s Day, etc), but most of our structured events will be pushed into the Fall. Details to be published digitally in the next few weeks, and are subject to revision with little notice (the 2020 legacy continues!). I personally hope that around July 4, we might be closer to normal than not.

Registration will be open by Sunday February 14, 2021

River Market

  • Opening Weekend: Friday March 12- Saturday March 13, 2021
  • Hours: Friday:10a-5p, Sat 10a-5p
  • Vendors: 2020 reduced capacity, initially; Farms, Food Truck and Arts/Crafts
  • Traditional layout: no
  • Regular Season Hours: Friday/Saturdays 10a-5p
  • Reserved Booths: not yet

Our partners at the Tennessee Aquarium have been working closely with the Chattanooga Tourism Company to drive traffic into town for the Spring Break period. Fridays and Saturdays are their strongest attendance, and we are going to be inviting a single food truck per day to participate with the market. Sundays will not be continued due to soft guest attendance (a travel day for our out-of-town visitors)

For food trucks, we are wanting diversity and responsibility. A truck signing up, then not attending, will be suspended for a period of weeks. During signup, we ask that the trucks register for no more than one weekend/month (Fri/Sat back-to-back is OK) in order to have a rotation of food options available – diversity drives interest/participation from the area staff. If dates are available within two weeks of a market, we will allow anyone to grab those open dates.

Doubling up at River, with a food truck and strong marketing campaign from the tourism people, makes this a super exciting development! River performed extremely well last year, and we’re hoping to build on it’s past success.

Registration will be open by Sunday February 14, 2021

Collegedale Market

  • Opening Day: Sunday March 14
  • Hours: 10a-2pm
  • Vendors: Farms, Food Truck and Arts/Crafts
  • Traditional layout: no
  • Reserved Booths: not yet

Collegedale did great last year, and we are optimistic that the momentum will continue to grow.

The Market will open the same weekend as River Market this year, giving us/some vendors a Fri/Sat/Sun series (if they have the stamina!). This location will operate everyone Sunday, with the exception of Easter Sunday on April 4, 2021. There will be no interruption for the reopening of the Chattanooga Market this year.

Registration will be open by Sunday February 14, 2021

Holiday Market
Dates confirmed at Convention Center, three weekend format once again. Registration will open the first week of July, 2021.

Chattanooga Market at Erlanger
Will remain closed until further notice. We’re probably looking at a 2022 relaunch

7 Likes

Will it be possible to setup any earlier than 9 am this year at the River Market?

We might could reinstall Reserved Booths for River this year… under the modified/distanced layout. I’ll add that to the Q&A list of things for us to figure out.

Good question!

3 Likes

Thanks Chris for all you and your teams hard work. Here’s to a great season

2 Likes

Thanks Chris and everyone involved.

1 Like

Happy 2021 Chris! Thank you for the updates! We want to thank you and the entire Public Markets team for all of your efforts during a very trying 2020! You guys did a fantastic job leading to all of our successes. Particular shout out to Tucker and the Chattanooga Market team. Great Job! We look forward to a fantastic 2021!!! Thanks much!

2 Likes

We found out late in the 2020 season the aquarium opens at 9:00 on Saturdays. It would be helpful, to go along with David’s message, if we could set up earlier.

2 Likes

It always has - but crowds build, and it’s a long day already. We’re looking to reinstall Reserved Booths for those who want to be the Early Bird at River. I think we can find a solution

2 Likes

A quick update - the RSVP for the Vendor Meeting is now published on our vendor registration site – https://publicmarkets.us

The Zoom link is also located on that listing; attendance is limited, but we will make adjustments if capacity becomes an issue. Everyone is welcome!

1 Like

Chris,
I signed up for the meeting on Saturday but did not find the Zoom Link info on the RSVP page, did I miss something?

It will magically appear on the RSVP a few hours before the event - they’ve designed it to reduce the frequency of naked Super Bowl streakers during our zoom meeting.

1 Like

You fail to note that many vendors observe the Sabbath and will not attend a business meeting on Saturday. Why not do it on a week day evening?

1 Like

Many also observe their sabbath on Sundays. Saturday has been the traditional meeting time for the vendor conference, we tend to stick to the historical traditions.

Follow-up: we can indeed add a weeknight zoom sometime in the future if enough people are interested.

Schedule a second Weeknight Zoom Meeting
  • Yes
  • No

0 voters

1 Like

I must work tomorrow and cannot participate in the Zoom meeting. Will there be a rundown of important topics, changes and details published for us to read? Here on the forum maybe? Thank you! Sheila

Hey - all the formal stuff will be posted here for sure. Informal details are what get lost in the translation; Q&A for example.

Still not seeing anything in RSVP

Where is the zoom info for the meeting this morning?

It’s on the website, folks – https://publicmarkets.us – scroll down to where is says “join the event now” We are going to be close to our capacity (100 participants), but I will record the session for those unable to attend.