Tom Sowa
Staff writer, Spokesman Review
June 12, 2005

Residents and business leaders in the Hillyard neighborhood are no longer waiting for jobs to come rolling in on the next train. Once the busiest rail yard in Spokane, Hillyard has shifted some of its attention to grass-roots economic resurgence, including transforming a weed-infested cluster of empty warehouses into a bustling public market.

Now in its third full year, the Market Street Market has become a gathering spot for bargain-hunters and area crafts vendors.

The market, at 5906 N. Market, has up until now operated as a weekend-only event. Its managers say they will use a recently awarded federal grant of $250,000 to allow vendors to continue selling at the site through the winter.

The goal, said Market Street Market Director Paul Hamilton, is to bring more shoppers to economically challenged Hillyard, where he was born and has lived for the past 48 years.

The money from the federal grant will allow Hamilton and his partners to expand the market over the next three years, he said. The site's three warehouses have a total of 75,000 square feet of usable space; they were shut down five years ago by their previous owner, Ziggy's Building Materials.  more>