The Anchorage Market & Festival has been a 22-year tradition every summer weekend downtown and that tradition is now in jeopardy. The Anchorage Market & Festival is run by Webb's Consulting and they have a contract with the Anchorage Community Development Authority for use of the parking lot (there on Third Avenue) 18 weekends each summer. The Anchorage Community Development Authority has recently informed Webb's Consulting that they would not renew that contract starting for the 2014 summer (possibly a one-year extension may be granted). Negotiations are still taking place. But the long and short of it all is that the tradition of this outdoor market every weekend, all summer could come to an end.
My husband and I own Siciliano Photography. We have been vendors at the Anchorage Market & Festival since 2006. The market is the life blood of our small business and the end of it would put us out of business. This is true for a number of artists at market. We want to see the market saved.
— Candice Siciliano
Anchorage