St. James Farmer’s Market will soon have a permanent covered pavilion at the Tourist Information Center. The Board of Aldermen approved on May 11 a use agreement allowing the structure to be erected on the property.

The farmer’s market has operated year-round for the past two years, but the pavilion will expand operations by allowing for more protection from the weather. Larkin Busby, who originally started the St. James Farmer’s Market three years ago, is heading up the project and will gift ownership of the pavilion to the city once it is paid off.

“People kept asking us, ‘how do I get in touch with you when the season’s over?’ Because people want to know where their meat comes from, and their produce, and their baked goods,” Busby said. “And I thought, you know what, we should just put up a pavilion, we’ll enclose it in the winter, and we can sell all year round.”

The pavilion is being funded entirely through community donations at no cost to the city. Busby has collected $45,000 in donations by reaching out to the St. James community and surrounding areas.

Construction is set to begin at the start of June and Busby said it should only take about a week to go up. The pavilion will be a metal structure set on top of concrete and visible from the highway in order to help draw visitors. Busby plans to hold a ribbon-cutting celebration once the pavilion is complete.

“The farmer’s market is growing, because I remember a couple years ago, you’d see a few tents out there,” Mayor Rick Krawiecki said. “Now, Saturday, it’s starting to pick up momentum. Sundays, it’s always packed on Sundays with people out there. And if they can continue to use it year round, it’s just a positive for St James.”

The land at the Tourist Information Center is owned by the city, and the original agreement with the state specifies that it can only be used for tourism-related purposes. Because of this, St. James Farmer’s Market has agreed to only use the pavilion and surrounding property for activities that can be designated as tourism. 

Krawiecki also appointed a newly-created tourism board for the city during the May 11 meeting, which was approved unanimously by the aldermen.

“Several months ago, a year ago, possibly, we were doing some discussion about (how) we want to make sure we’re encompassing as many organizations, businesses as we can to help promote St. James in a positive way that focuses on the whole community and not just a few choices,” Krawiecki explained.

The new board is made up of five members: Wes Swee, Brenna Weinbaum, Shay Abel, Tina Bullock and Charity Satterfield. The group will meet quarterly to discuss how the city should spend its tourism dollars.

The individuals were appointed because the city believes they each represent important aspects of tourism in the town. Swee is the park director at Maramec Spring Park, Weinbaum owns several area AirBnBs, Abel is the general manager at St. James Golf Club, Bullock owns Johnny’s Bar and will represent downtown and Satterfield owns Blooms and Barrels Garden Center.

“We just feel this group here together, along with the Chamber director and stuff like that, could bring a lot of presence and new ideas to St. James (and) think outside the box,” Krawiecki said.

In other news, the Board of Aldermen heard a citizen comment from Ron Nappier, who was asking for issues with the soccer program to be addressed. He said that this season, the field has been set up wrong, referees have arrived late and field reservations haven’t been honored.

“The program is really hurting right now,” Nappier said. “This has been the worst I’ve ever seen it. It’s very bad. There’s always hiccups through the years, (but) it’s just every week, there’s something going on.”

“We appreciate you bringing that to our attention,” Krawiecki responded. “We’ll talk with Kristy (Rich, Parks and Recreation director) and see if we can come up with something. It’s a bad thing to have so many activities going on that it’s tough to get a field to practice on and things, I understand.”