After roughly two years, the lease for the historic Slocum House (605 Esther St.) has been transferred from East Fork Cellars to the Vancouver Farmers Market, the city of Vancouver has announced.
According to Vancouver Farmers Market Executive Director Jordan Boldt, there are no immediate plans to make any significant changes to the property. Gallery 360 is currently operating on the main floor and the Vancouver Farmers Market will maintain offices on the second floor.
“Our goal is to make the house as open and accessible to the community as we can,” said Boldt. “We want to continue hosting special events and look for ways to further engage people with our market and our vendors.”
Future plans involve the further development of a community room that local businesses and nonprofits could use for events. Additionally, Boldt said the market would like to possibly provide some co-working space for people who need a place to work, but are not interested in leasing a traditional office.
“We also want to highlight the market vendors as much as we can,” added Boldt. “If we can find a way to get them and their products into the Slocum House over the course of the week, it would be ideal. We really want to create a space where the community can come and enjoy this historical property, Esther Short Park and all that the downtown has to offer.”
The Slocum House was built in 1867 by Charles and Laura Slocum, and is on the on the National Registry of Historic Places. It is owned by the city of Vancouver.