Maitland's Sunday Market Went Back to Lake Lily. Here's How Downtown Works Around It This Holiday Season.
The busiest stretch of Maitland's year is now centered on Lake Lily Park instead of Independence Lane. The weekly Farmers Market moved back to the lake in July. The road project that pushed it there closes the Horatio Avenue intersection from Nov. 2 through Thanksgiving week. On the first Saturday in December, the city's Season of Light celebration brings the holiday season to the same park. Until the North Independence Lane extension wraps up, Lake Lily works as downtown's front porch, and planning a weekend around that saves a lot of circling.
The City of Maitland announced the move on June 21. It said the weekly market would reopen at Lake Lily Park on July 12, at the corner of Maitland Avenue and Orlando Avenue, "a spot where it originally was held until 2021." For anyone who started shopping the market after 2021, the lake is a new setting. For longer-time regulars, the vendors are back on familiar ground.
The cause was parking more than pavement. The city said the extension would first affect the city lot at Maitland Avenue and Horatio Avenue, which vendors and visitors had used every Sunday while the market ran on Independence Lane. With that lot inside a construction fence, the market's old setup stopped working.
The market itself has stayed the same. The city's relocation notice describes dozens of tents with food, crafts, local products, plants, flowers and produce, plus live music from Performing Arts Matter. The layout is what changed. At Lake Lily, the market wraps around the west side of the lake, with the playground and restrooms in the middle of the site and signs pointing drivers to parking.
The market is still at the lake this fall. The city calendar listed it at Lake Lily Park, 701 Lake Lily Drive, on Sunday, Oct. 25, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The city has not announced a date for the move back downtown.
The extension is the reason downtown looks the way it does right now. According to Spectrum News 13's July 1 report, the $3.5 million project extends Independence Lane about 600 feet north across Horatio Avenue to George Avenue. The new section will match the existing street, with brick pavers and wide concrete walkways. City officials told the outlet they hope it will improve parking access for businesses and draw more development.
The same report gives the backstory. Independence Lane was rebuilt in 2018 and is now known for its shops, its restaurants and the nearly 250 apartments in Maitland City Centre, and city officials have credited it with creating the downtown Maitland had wanted for decades. The extension adds to a street that already works, and the market moved because the street is busy enough that losing one parking lot matters.
Getting downtown has not followed the first timeline. The city's Sept. 15 Maitland Minute newsletter said Horatio Avenue could close between Maitland Avenue and Orlando Avenue as early as Sept. 28. Independence Lane would close between Horatio and Packwood Avenue, and a second phase would close part of George Avenue between Maitland and Orlando avenues. That newsletter expected the work to be finished by Oct. 23.
On Oct. 22, one day before that date, the city posted a new notice. Roadway construction will close the intersection of Horatio Avenue and Independence Lane from Monday, Nov. 2 through Friday, Nov. 27. That puts the closure over the entire Thanksgiving run-up, the month when downtown errands tend to pile up. The city has not given a new completion date for the full extension. Treat Nov. 27 as the end of this closure, not the end of the project.
Here is how the posted detours work, per the Oct. 22 notice:
In September, the city said drivers could reach Maitland City Centre from Orlando Avenue, between Parea Greek Taverna and Starbucks. That entrance is the most useful one to remember for a quick downtown errand this month, though the city's latest notice is the place to confirm it is still open during the November phase.
The businesses behind the fence are open and still need their customers during the closure. When the city announced the extension in May, it listed these businesses on or near Independence Lane: Brewlando Brewery, Houndstooth Kitchen and Eatery, Fleet Feet, Kelly's Homemade Ice Cream, Parea Greek Taverna, Starbucks and Floyd's 99 Barbershop.
Spectrum News 13 also spoke with Kristin Bray, owner of Young Chefs Academy Maitland, who said she chose Independence Lane for its foot traffic. In the outlet's report she pointed to the Farmer's Market and the nearby train station as part of the draw, and said she hoped the expansion would bring "more families" into the area.
With the market at the lake, and with Horatio closed at Independence from Nov. 2 to Nov. 27, these businesses lose some of the walk-by traffic they usually get on a Sunday. Plan a visit on purpose. Come in from Orlando Avenue, or park once and walk.
The season peaks on Saturday, Dec. 5, when Lake Lily Park hosts the city's Season of Light Holiday Celebration from 5 to 8:30 p.m. The city describes it as an annual tradition with games, vendors, live music and a tree lighting ceremony. It takes place at 701 Lake Lily Drive, the same address the market has used all fall, so the parking signs and walking routes from recent Sundays apply that evening too.
The daytime part of that Saturday happens at the Maitland Art Center. The Art & History Museums of Maitland hold First Saturday open studios from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., when the resident artists open their studio doors. The museum lists a one-hour guided architecture tour through the art center's gardens and courtyards for the same day. The museum's calendar has the tour's start time.
Put together, Dec. 5 runs from studios and courtyards at the art center in the daytime to the tree lighting at the lake after dark, with no need to cross the construction zone between them.
The fixed dates through the end of the year, per each venue's schedule:
Showtimes, tickets and the current season's listings are on Enzian's holiday series page. The city hasn't posted holiday-weekend schedules for the market. Thanksgiving weekend, the Sunday after Season of Light, and the Christmas and New Year's weekends all fall on market Sundays. The market skipped July 5 for the Independence Day weekend, so check the city calendar before heading out on a holiday Sunday.
When the extension is finished, Independence Lane will reach George Avenue with the same brick and wide walkways as the 2018 section, and the parking lot at Maitland and Horatio will be back in use. Until then, the city's posted plan sends Sunday shopping, holiday lights and most weekend foot traffic to the lake, with the Independence Lane storefronts a short walk away for anyone willing to take the detour.
Bianca Janice Williams keeps track of downtown Maitland projects like this one. If you'd like to talk about how the North Independence Lane extension and Maitland's growing downtown fit your own plans, Rayneshire Realty is glad to walk through it with you. Let's Connect.
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