Downtown Kennewick Farmers Market Cancelled July 1st Due to Extreme Heat

Out of an abundance of caution for the safety of our vendors, customers, and volunteers the Historic Downtown Kennewick Partnership has made the hard choice to cancel the Farmers Market on Thursday, July 1, 2021.

The market’s current weather policy as it applies to heat, is that 110 F is the automatic cancellation threshold for the Downtown Kennewick Farmers Market. “We see that the forecast for this Thursday, July 1st is 108 F, said Stephanie Button, HDKP Executive Director. “However, reviewing the attendance and gross sales from June 24th, when the weather was 99 F, cusping 100 F... attendance was down about 200 from the week before and the sales across the board were down by at least 50% from the previous markets.”

Market organizers acknowledge that there is still a chance that the weather could fluctuate by a couple of degrees in either direction, but out of an abundance of caution for public safety they have made the preemptive choice to cancel this week's market. “We take seriously our commitment to provide a safe space for our vendors to sell their products and for customers to shop. There are measures we can take to help alleviate the heat (such as providing additional canopy cover, large fans, and iced bottled water); however, we cannot guarantee that shoppers will venture out after this prolonged stretch of dangerously hot heat,” said Button.

The Thursday evening Downtown Kennewick Farmers Market fills an important niche for customers who cannot visit weekday or weekend morning markets. “We realize that this means our market occurs during the hottest part of the day. Because we don’t want to encourage people to spend prolonged periods of time in this excessive heat, we have made
the hard choice to cancel the Farmers Market on only July 1, 2021,” said Button. Normal operations will resume on Thursday, July 8, 2021.

For more information about the Downtown Kennewick Farmers Market email market@historickennewick.org or call 509-582-7221. Up-to-date information about the farmers market can be found on Facebook @kennewickfarmersmarket.