Downtown Benton Farmers Market Pavilion Officially Breaks Ground

I guess folks around Benton think this farmers market pavilion project is kind of a big deal. I’m one of those people. It’s a great project that will bring new possibilities to the area, but it’s also been a long time coming. We first heard of this project in February 2016 during Benton Mayor David Mattingly’s State of the City address.

It’s pretty exciting to think of a large structure downtown that can be used for a farmers market and so much more. Weddings, networking events, music gatherings, etc. But the dream fell off the table at a certain point. In planning the costs for the City of Benton to construct Riverside Park, there were some changes, and the money had to come from somewhere. The farmers market lost its funding, but Economic Development Director Brad Jordan still had a dream. This was his baby and he wanted to see it walk.

While we outsiders waited and wondered what was going on, the Mayor went around asking for businesses to chip in to make up the cost. In doing this, about $450,000 was raised to make this project happen. This video shows Jordan and Mattingly telling frankly about the process of getting the project back online and the community members that came together to make it happen. They dig some ceremonial dirt at the end, but then the real workers came in to tear up the old parking lot and start into construction right then.