November 24, 2008

Nancy Spann, President
Southern Appalachian Historical Association

Re: Parking at Horn in the West & additional space

Dear Nancy:

Thank you for your letter concerning the parking situation. We are very pleased to hear that SAHA is negotiating to have the student cars removed from the main and lower parking lots.

The parking lot itself has some design flaws, for example the two accesses to the main lot should be redesigned to make one a permanent entrance and the other a permanent exit. The lot could then be re-striped to allow for a smoother circular flow of traffic.

The ASU student cars in the main and lower lots pose a problem for the entire market season from May through October. Even during the summer there are enough student cars in the two lots to generate complaints from our customers and vendors. Regardless of how many student cars are in the lots, they seem to have a knack for parking them in a manner so as to cause the most obstruction to customers and vendors.

The parking problem is particularly bad on home game Saturdays. When ASU has a home game, the lower lot is completely full with student cars and the main lot is from 2/3 to 3/4 full with student cars. Our customers are loyal and on many Saturdays they brave the elements and on home game Saturdays they brave the almost total lack of parking to patronize the Farmers’ Market. But despite our customers’ loyalty, our vendors report a drop in sales from 25% to as much as 50% on Saturdays when there is a home game.

Four Saturdays may not sound like all that much. But those four home game Saturdays constitute 15% of our market days. Our vendors all face the vagaries of Mother Nature in getting their crops planted and harvested and in bringing their crops, crafts and baked goods to market. We hope that next year they won’t have to face the completely predictable home game schedule of ASU.

The board of the WCFM would also like to acquire additional space for vendors from SAHA. We presently have more vendors than available spaces, and we have a waiting list for crafters. So far we have been lucky in that all of the vendors have not shown up on any given market day. However, our market manager has had to squeeze vendors into the market on many market days. We think there is potential to have several more vendor spaces on the grassy area by the ticket office and down the walk way to the theatre.

We would like to meet with SAHA’s board to discuss the parking issue and acquiring additional space for our vendors. We can have representatives from WCFM attend your January board meeting. It would be vey helpful to us to have a fairly firm answer on the parking and additional spaces prior to the WCFM general meeting in March.

In the 30 plus year history of the WCFM, moving the market has been a perennial topic at the general meeting. The parking situation has always been the number one issue given by those who would like to see the market move to another location. With the market’s growth in the last four years, additional space to accommodate growth has also become an issue. Removing the student cars from the main and lower lots on Fridays and Saturdays would make parking a non-issue. Additional space for vendors would allow the market ample room to grow.

The board of the WCFM feels that the Horn in the West offers the market a location that is unique; not just in Watauga County, but in the whole state. If we can work with SAHA to solve the parking problem and acquire room to grow, we feel that there is no reason to move the market from the Horn in the West.

Again, we thank you for addressing our parking concerns in your negotiations with ASU. If we can be of any assistance to you in those negotiations, please do not hesitate to call on us. We hope that we can meet with SAHA’s board in January to discuss the parking problem and the acquisition of additional space. With kind regards, I am,

Very truly yours,

Jeff Thomas, President, Watauga County Farmer’s Market