BEATRICE – Thursday night was the final Main Street Beatrice Farmer’s Market, for the season.

"When we get to about the frost date...once we hit this middle part of October...the weather can be great or it can be horrible...and it's just so inconsistent for us. And, frankly after we've been open for 22 weeks, we're all ready for a Thursday evening off, I think. We'll plan on being here starting mid-May of '22."

Main Street Executive Director Michael Sothan says it was a successful event over the more than five months of Farmer’s Markets held late afternoon and early evening on Thursdays.

"We averaged around 14 vendors per week over the course of the season and we've had 38 different vendors join us this year. The new location has been good for us. It hasn't changed much from previous years, but I think it's been a little more convenient for our vendors, our customers." The markets have been held in the parking lot of the Centenary United Methodist Church. Sothan says several vendors have been participating for several years.

"We've had some coming to the market for probably fifteen years. Just a year or two ago, we had some that started with Main Street Beatrice back in 1997 when the market began, and are just retiring. The market has been here a long time...Main Street has been happy to be a part of it. We want to thank Gage County Extension for partnering with us on a part of it this year, Tara Dunker....along with our vendors. It's definitely not possible without them."

Next up for Main Street Beatrice is a major event that had to be called off last year, because of the Coronavirus pandemic. The Night of the Great Pumpkin Halloween event will be held in the downtown area, Thursday, October 28th, from 5 to 7 p.m.

"It's a giant event for families and kids to trick-or-treat downtown businesses. We have a few other activities. We're expecting a good turnout and good participation with our downtown shops, again this year. We really want to invite the community to come out. In the past, we've had over a thousand kids, typically. With the parents and grandparents there's over three-thousand people downtown for two hours of trick-or-treating."

Court Street and side streets will be blocked off for that event in a couple of weeks.