The funny thing about a carrot, is that it tastes the same no matter where you sell it. The same can’t be said about university traditions that take place in a rural college town.
Controversy between the City of Moscow and Moscow Farmers Market vendors, those representing the latter group haven’t come to terms with the simple facts.
The University of Idaho’s Homecoming Parade, an annual event that has attracted thousands since its beginning in the early 1900s, has a special place in the hearts of thousands of UI alumni who return to Moscow for one weekend every year.
During a Sept. 16 Moscow City Council meeting, it was no surprise that board members voted unanimously to relocate the Sept. 28 farmers market to the Jackson Street parking lot.
The real surprise came from vendors who confronted the council and suggested that the parade — which, again, hasn’t moved for more than 100 years — move elsewhere.
In a letter to the editor submitted to the Moscow-Pullman Daily News, a Moscow resident argued that vendors have just 26 opportunities to sell their product every year.
UI has an even smaller window to put on a perfect Homecoming Weekend — an event that can’t be rescheduled or postponed. The parade, like the Homecoming football game, is one of the trademark events that has attracted flocks of alumni year after year. Those alumni will come from 22 states this year.
Furthermore, the City of Moscow hasn’t requested that the farmers market shutdown all operations.
They’re requesting a short move to the Jackson Street parking lot that runs parallel to Main Street, not more than 20 yards away.
University students and employees provide a great deal of support to their local farmers, as seen by the overwhelming crowds that attend the farmers market.
Vendors ought to be grateful for that support. Let UI have its weekend, because this weekend is just as important to students, alumni and employees as any during the academic year.
— TL