FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Matt Maisel, Director of Communications
[email protected]
(717) 255-7295
September 7, 2023
HARRISBURG — Public Works bulldozers and dump trucks started laying the groundwork on Thursday for the soon-to-be temporary Broad Street Market tent.
Thursday’s activity represented the first physical work done by the City of Harrisburg at the lot located on the corner of 3rd and Verbeke Streets, where a 5,000 square foot tent will soon be erected to temporarily replace the brick building of the market, which was destroyed in a fire July 10. Public Works employees started to level the lot so that a bed of gravel can be laid on the ground, and eventally, a flat surface for the tent.
“It’s very exciting that we finally got the ‘Go!’ to come together and massively create this project,” said Public Works Director Dave West. “Everyone has their part and their role and we’re all working together for one goal.”
The tent, which was ordered September 1, is expected to arrive in the coming week or two. Once the tent is constructed, 16 vendors displaced by the brick building fire will move into their new home.
The tent market will open to the public this fall.
The City of Harrisburg is leasing the lot from city restauranteur Josh Kesler, who owns the nearby Millworks resturant. The City is also leasing the tent, which it hopes to return in two years, the expected construction time to rebuild the brick building of the Broad Street Market. Currently, the brick building is under control of vendors’ insurance companies investigating the fire.