Article and photos by Mary Ellen Graybill

“It’s not what you expect,” said York, PA resident Linda Strickler after a tour of the Columbia Market dungeon rooms where reports persist about a child named Katie who tugs on visitors clothes and begs, “Buy me some candy!”

Carmen Swinehart (right) shares some time with her grandson, Blade Mellinger-Smith, and her daughter, Christina Mellinger.

“It’s very interesting!” said Linda, now upstairs where buying candy is a possibility.

Carmen Swinehart, the market manager of the 1868 market house building, has just explained to a small group of tourists standing in the storage area in the market basement about people’s perceptions of ghosts.

Referring to the story that prisoners had been stuffed through narrow grated windows, she explained that the market had been first a farmer’s market for produce and that the storage rooms, later used as holding cells for hapless prisoners, were actually storage units, windowless and without light, for ice, grain, flour, sugar.

“It was whatever the farmers had because back then in a real market, you had grain, wheat.”

Sustainable Preservation at the Marketplace

“Since we got many grants for upgrades and things, it’s a requirement that we move towards being a true farmer’s market,” said Carmen.

“It hasn’t been easy, because managers are always the center of attention and we have to change the past. It’s definitely not easy. The biggest task was getting the vendors to change their attitude. If they’re not happy they’re certainly not giving happy service. So, customer service is the key, so we have little classes, we have little pep talks … and it seems to be working. “

Now the goal is to fill the building with farmer’s market material and buyers, even on days when there is a trend to go where there are more customers, the Green Dragon and Root’s.

One popular vendor said, “I like Thursday the way it is, but we just need a little bit more people to make it worth while … they will think of something!”

The market is now upgraded with renovations and improvements since a Preserve America program was put into place that funded sustainable historic preservation of the building that once housed 180 inside stalls and 34 outside stalls.

Tourism is a goal since a 2008 proclamation made by John Nau, chairman of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, which “administers Preserve America programs of the White House in cooperation with the Department of the Interior.”(Lancaster Heritage Outlook newspaper Fall 2009)

‘Sustainable historic preservation is a wise investment in the future, not a cost for maintaining the past. Communities and the nation receive significant economic, educational and cultural benefits, including heritage tourism, in return for their preservation efforts,” reads the letter from John Nau.

Vendors Wanted! Community Supported Farmers Wanted?

One new vendor since July 2011 is Donna Alexander of Pies Galore & More. She agreed the market needs a “little bit more buzz, more customer base, more people coming out … Friends of mine that live within the ten miles radius of the market … don’t really know where it’s located. I tell ’em ‘well, I’m selling my pies at Columbia market,’ and they act like they don’t really know how to get there. They don’t really know about the market, so I tell them the hours and how to get here.”

”I always loved to bake as a hobby … I thought it would be a good place to get started and figure out all of the marketing steps of what pies to make, what’s a good price point and what are people looking for,” she explained.

Carmen said, “We are centrally located and we should be used as your local market for all your produce, your baked goods, etc, but we have to get products out of the ground— that’s what a true farmer’s market is all about — grow your own, sell your own, so that’s what we’re going towards.”

For her day, which begins anytime with phone calls from potential vendors or tourists, she is physically at the market two days a week. At this time, vendors to replace teachers that went back to teaching after the summer are sought.

“There is a never-ending goal to achieve more foot traffic,” she said.

As local artist and contributor to a free art class at the dungeon this summer, Tom Hermansader said while passing through, “The market is good for Columbia!”

Carmen extends her special thanks to:

• Mike Aliotta owner of Burger King who put an A Frame out to let people know that the market is open on Thursday and Friday.
• Boy Scouts who made more signs, 
• “To celebrate all those that either funded, painted, cleaned the market, it doesn’t matter- all those that were involved will have received or have received an invitation to attend the Grand Re-opening celebration on October 27 10-3PM to see what they basically invested their heart in,” said Carmen Swinehart.

Dad with Shaughn. Dad is Erek Perkowski, husband of AVON standholder, Frine Jacks-Leed. Notice that Shaughn is always smiling broadly.

[AUTHOR’S NOTE: We believe that the Columbia Market House is an exceptional landmark for Columbia and surrounding communities. We support the market’s focus on developing a mix of locally derived or hand-crafted products of all kinds; the ingredients of a healthy kitchen; a kitchen anywhere in Columbia, Pa. and surrounding areas.]