“Oh I hate that,” said Liz Morningstar, CEO of the Boston Public Market Association, when I asked her to share a bit about her professional background. Later, when I’d ask for a photo, she’d pleaded with me, “Do you have to?”
Morningstar, who oversees the non-profit that facilitates the freshly opened and immensely popular Boston Public Market at 100 Hanover Street, is appropriately humble. She wants, after all, the spotlight to be perpetually shown on the market’s vendors, products, customers and the market itself.
The Boston Public Market, the only completely locally-sourced food hub in the nation, is a reflection of Boston’s sharing economy in a number of different fashions. It’s activated a once obsolete eyesore of a building at the onset of the Rose Kennedy Greenway, it’s brought together various New England farms and foodies that work in tandem instead of in opposition, and it’s prompting Bostonians – whose temperaments have occasionally been rather inhospitable – to talk with each other about a topic that can unite people on completely opposite ends of the spectrum: food.
Those characteristics are becoming increasingly apparent throughout Boston in various forms, whether it be parks, startups, markets or otherwise and is completely embodied in the Boston Public Market.
“I’ve long said I love public markets because I think they allow us to come together around something that we all share, and that’s food,” Morningstar told me. “It doesn’t matter where you’re from, if you’re a novice cook or a chef, everybody loves food.”
Tracing its roots back to 2001 when the Association was formed, the Public Market hit the ground running. It officially opened on Thursday, July 30, and even when its closed on Monday and Tuesday, passersby can be seen wrangling the door handles trying to get inside.
“We came all the way from Milwaukee,” said one passing group which somehow managed to find a way in while I spoke with Morningstar on a Tuesday afternoon. “We look for [markets] on our travels. They’re the flavor of the city you’re in.”
I was surprised to find out, though, that the Public Market was not always backed with such overwhelming support.
Because the building it’s housed in was constructed as part of the Big Dig, the Public Market project needed not only City and State approval but the green light from the Federal Highway Administration as well. Permitting and licensing proved to be substantial roadblocks but recent moves by Mayor Marty Walsh and his administration to streamline those efforts could ensure that similar future endeavors aren’t hindered by seas of red tape.
“The City and the State are really important partners for us, we would not be here without them,” said Morningstar. “I would say even early on getting it funded, this is a different type of a project. From a non-profit point of view, we had a handful of donors willing to take a risk.”
I hope this space changes and continues to change and we see different vendors come in and out
Unsuspectingly, this is Morningstar’s bread and butter. The woman hellbent on shielding herself behind the Public Market is a veteran in politics having spent time as a senior advisor in the Deval Patrick administration and on Al Gore’s press team where she ran the point on all of his environmental and speciality news items.
With that experience and much more under her belt, Morningstar’s transition to the Public Market in 2013 was seamless. She’s had her fair share of encounters with power brokers and bureaucrats, fundraising and forging partnerships, and by way of that was able to run with early marketing and branding initiatives.
“That early work was probably the most important and influential period of time for where we are today,” she said.
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts committed about $6.5 million for the build out of the market site. That constituted about half of what was needed, though, so it took solicitation for private donations to come up with the difference. Some weren’t so keen on parting with their dollars but a few, said Morningstar, were willing to take a leap of faith for what’s poised to be one of Boston’s most innovative an iconic features for posterity to enjoy.
I love public markets because I think they allow us to come together around something that we all share, and that’s food
For Morningstar, witnessing a viable public-private partnership such as this has proved just as rewarding as providing Bostonians and visitors with a place to shop, eat and drink locally.
“That private money wouldn’t be possible without the State, that’s what’s neat about it,” she said.
The actual building out of the market proved just as burdensome as securing the proper funds. As mentioned its housed in an old Big Dig facility that sat vacant for more than a decade.
Approximately 80 farms from Massachusetts, Vermont and Rhode Island are represented by more than 30 vendors at the Public Market – she received roughly 250 letters of interest. Situating each in a specified area was contingent on size, product and a negotiated rent, but Morningstar and her team made sure to keep some space aside as something of a fail-safe. That is, should the Association need to be dexterous on the fly and rearrange the layout, or if they want to add more vendors, or if current vendors want to expand their space, it can happen.
In fact, it’s expected.
“I hope this space changes and continues to change and we see different vendors come in and out,” said Morningstar. “If this is a place where all of the vendors we see today are here in 10 years, I would say that is not a success. I would argue that variety and change will keep it fresh.”
Sensing that Morningstar is the kind of leader who refuses to choose a favorite among so many worthy candidates, I asked her anyway to choose between her children in the spirit of transformation, iteration and trying new things. In this one particular instance, Morningstar held firm.
“I won’t,” she said.
Asking again for a coveted photo of her, she said jokingly “I’ll pay you not to.”
But then added in seriousness, “Get a picture of some of the vendors.”
