Greensburg’s Lynch Field will not become the new home for the Ligonier Country Market.
Mayor Robb Bell said Friday that city officials turned down the request after Ligonier Country Market had sought to relocate to Greensburg.
“It was just too much in such a short period of time,” he said.
When Greensburg officials started looking at the logistics of allowing the market at Lynch Field, there were numerous questions about how the event would affect other activities there.
“The more we looked at it, the more we didn’t feel right,” Bell said. “We didn’t want to compromise our recreational programs down there.”
That decision leaves Ligonier Country Market continuing its quest to find a new home as the clock ticks down to opening day on May 16.
After the relationship soured this year with the market’s landlord in Ligonier Township, officials have been eyeing other locations for the weekly event. Those have included Ligonier Borough’s downtown, the Waterford fire station in Ligonier Township and Greensburg, but none of the ideas got support from municipal officials.
Market attorney Mark Sorice said Friday there are a couple other potential suitors still in the works.
“We are flattered because we had probably about five different locations reach out to us,” he said.
Ligonier Country Market is set to start May 16 and run until Sept. 26, according to its website. Sorice confirmed that’s still the plan. It typically draws between 3,000 and 5,000 visitors from 8 a.m. to noon every Saturday over four months. About 130 vendors from around the area sell their crafts, produce, flowers, meats and other wares.
Kelly Svesnik, director of Ligonier Country Market, did not respond to messages Friday afternoon.
An application was filed with Greensburg last week seeking to use Lynch Field for the Ligonier Country Market, officials said. There was ensuing discussion, Bell said, but ultimately not enough time to plan and too many variables involved. The Ligonier Country Market was notified by email Thursday of the city’s decision.
“We do appreciate the offer,” he said.
Lynch Field is home to a walking track, the Aerobic Center, Kirk S. Nevin Arena, Veterans’ Memorial Pool, a firefighter training building, sports and recreation fields and the start of the Five Star Trail. The parking lot is typically busy on Saturday mornings, and wet weather sometimes results in flooding.
The market understood Greensburg’s concerns with logistics, Sorice said.
A special event permit application doesn’t require a public vote by mayor and council unless there is alcohol being served, said administrator Kelsye Hantz. The market indicated on its application that no alcohol would be served. If Lynch Field were to host Ligonier Country Market, she said an agreement would have been placed on an agenda for a vote, but the situation didn’t reach that level.
The Ligonier Country Market had been held for the past 25 years on a 9.6-acre Loyalhanna Watershed Association property off Route 30 in Ligonier Township. Special events permits were issued in January, but a reported dispute over the lease between the market and association led to the market seeking another location.
Initially, Ligonier Borough was proposed as the new site, but that plan didn’t move forward. A proposal to move to the Waterford fire station in Ligonier Township was nixed by township supervisors last month when they rejected a request from fire officials to rezone the property for commercial use.
The station, off Route 271, sits on 26 acres and is zoned agricultural, which doesn’t permit retail sales.