CLEVELAND — After 112 years as a Cleveland landmark, the historic West Side Market is embracing a new way of doing things. Wednesday marked the first official day of a nonprofit running day-to-day operations.“It is world class. It’s been here forever and there’s nothing quite like it,” saidVera’s Bakery owner Beth Bowman added, “There’s a lot of history here, a lot of transactions, a lot of community here. A lot of people have been coming here since they were kids.
“Just basically consistently and making sure that things that need to be addressed are addressed,” Bowman said. Mudry took the helm of the new nonprofit at the beginning of the year. She explained the organization will have full-time on-site staff and be able to tap into new funding sources the city would not have access to.
“If there’s anything in Cleveland worth dumping our funds into, it’s the West Side Market,” said Bjerre. “It’s been a long time since we’ve had a chock-full market of people really putting their best foot forward. And I just can’t wait to see that come back.” “If we cut out some of the red tape, maybe we can get some stuff done,” Bowman said. “We put our time in here. We would like them to do the same.”