La Crosse Farmers Market ready to move to Burns Park for next year

A warm-weather tradition in La Crosse is in for a change.

The weekly Farmers Market downtown has been granted permission to move to Burns Park along Main Street, after several years in Cameron Park. That move was okayed on Thursday by the city park board.

Caleb Kvale with the local Farmers Market Association says attendance has been dropping in recent years at Cameron, where homeless people have camped on occasion.

“Cameron’s still been shrinking, and we haven’t recovered there, the way we wanted to be, which is why we’re looking to make the move,” Kvale tells park board members.

Park director Jay Odegaard supports the change in location. “Looking at the numbers they shared with us,” said Odegaard, “I think it’s pretty evident that a move is necessary for them to survive.”

Next year’s Farmers Market is set to begin on Friday, May 3rd, and continue each Friday evening until Halloween at the end of October. There were occasional Saturday morning markets at Cameron this year as well. At this time, the move to Burns Park is only planned for the summer of 2025, and the change will be reviewed at the end of the season.