Old Kentucky Makers Market
TRANSFORMING A VACANT BUILDING INTO A THRIVING MARKETPLACE TO BRING COMMUNITY TOGETHER
Bellevue’s young couple and family residents choose Bellevue for its walkability and proximity to downtown Cincinnati. They also wish that the city of 5,000 people had a better night life. When a building went vacant along a distressed stretch of its main street, Fairfield Avenue, they saw an opportunity. With the Neighborhood Playbook a group of five residents developed the Old Kentucky Makers Market (OKMM) that brought together music, local microbreweries, local food and makers with an overtly Kentucky brand. The targeted event runs monthly and, since its start, has led to the successful purchase of the building and inspired its adaptive reuse into the Fairfield Market that opened spring of 2018.
Services
Activation
Timeframe
2016 - 2017
Client
MB Custom Construction
Location
Bellevue, Kentucky
PROBLEM
How can a walkable river city convert a vacant building on a distressed main-street block into the nightlife and local gathering place young families want?
SOLUTION
Use the Neighborhood Playbook to help resident leaders prototype a Kentucky-branded monthly market that combines music, local microbreweries, food, and makers.
ACTION
A recurring Old Kentucky Makers Market event that built demand, supported the purchase of the vacant building, and inspired its adaptive reuse as Fairfield Market. village that can be built right away.
