The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
City Center Market focuses on community
ONEIDA, N.Y. >> The City Center Market is making its way back around the block with new vendors, new music and new activities for the whole family.
“I have to say, I’m really excited for the City Center Market this year,” Carrie Earl, City Center Market manager, said. In her office, Earl keeps sheets of large notepad outlining each day and each month the market will be open.
“Throughout the 12 weeks, we have 20 different local organizations we’re working with,” Earl said. “It’s a community market. It’s a gathering spot for the city on Thursday nights.”
Earl said the Oneida City Center Committee is working with include the Oneida Public Li
brary, the Oneida Community Mansion House, the Madison County Sheriff’s Office, the Oneida Police and Fire Department, the Oneida Indian Nation, local race car organizations, the Boy Scouts, the Girl Scouts, the Oneida Elks Club, the Oneida Parks and Recreation Department, the Owls Club and more.
“We’re creating a community sense and community pride in the center of Oneida,” Earl said. “We need this to be the place neighbors come to see neighbors, grab a bite to eat and have fun.”
It all kicks off Thursday, June 6 at 5 p.m. in Higinbotham Park with a kids carnival, a gardening workshop for children and live music by Shawn “Big Sexy” Smith, a Boonville musician who auditioned for The Voice’s fifth season and got on Team Ceelo.
“It’s really exciting,” Earl said. “He [Shawn] was on national television and he’s coming to our stage at Higinbotham Park. He’s usually a country base, but also does acoustic rock and pop. When he went on the show, he did more country.”
There’s a lot of activities fun for the whole family, Earl said. The market’s second week will have “Building Brains for Business,” a children’s group that will teach how to run a business; fingerprinting with the Madison County Sheriff’s Office; and a meet-andgreet with local race car drivers.
For the children’s business group, Earl said there will be around 10 children with their own business set up selling their products, and she encouraged the community to come support the young entrepreneurs. “They need support,” Earl said. “They work for six weeks on their business project and are so excited to show what they can do and what they learned.”
One of the activities still being planned is the children’s bike parade. The City Center Market is inviting children to decorate their bikes red, white and blue to honor and celebrate those in the military who have served or are currently serving.
But one of the things Earl said she’s very excited for is the pet show. “There was a pet show last year and the kids brought their pets,” Earl said. “They had towrite things that they knew about their pets. It was so cool.”
Earl said the Cornell Cooperative Extension is sponsoring the pet show this year and is supposed to bring goats, sheep, rabbits and poultry. Earl said as long as the children’s pet is in a cage, they can bring it. Growingup in a small town, Earl participated in a pet show and wanted to bring it to Oneida. “I was six years old,” Earl said. “We had a dog and it couldn’t come, so I broughtmy stuffedanimal instead. I won first prize.”
Car and bike shows, an art trailer exhibition, a history trail and more. Earl said OC3, as a team, want to create something that is communityminded and not just a farmers market.
The City Center Market first started in June 2018 and features a number of vendors from around the community. At last year’s market, Oneida locals Joey Davis, owner of 1041 Fairview Farms, and Devon Ryan, of Beyond Earth Essentials, were some of just a few local businesses to set up shop.
Among new additions, Earl said OC3 is working with organizations like TriValley Beverage to feature local microbreweries at the market, selling microbrews and ciders.
Earl said she feels the community needs a way to come together and that the market could be the mutual ground needed.
“I want to knock on doors and let people know this is the community spot and place to be on Thursday nights,” Earl said. “Bring your family and enjoy what we have.”
The City Center Market, sponsored by the Oneida City Center Committee, will run every Thursday from 5-8 p.m. through August. For more information, visit City Center Market’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/OneidaCityCenterMarket. For those interested in becoming a vendor or participating in an upcoming event, call 315-2257010