Work continues in downtown Overland Park as the opening date for the Overland Park Farmers’ Market at Clock Tower Landing approaches rapidly.

When completed, the reimagined area off Santa Fe Drive between 79th Street and 80th Street will offer a new pavilion for the city’s farmers market that will remain open year-round and serve as a hub for the community, said Bryan Toben, director of parks and recreation for Overland Park.

“It is going to be so much more. It is a gathering place in downtown Overland Park for us to host events, have parties, and just celebrate as a community,” he said. “We’re just building this district for everybody to come and enjoy and be together.”

Toben and other city officials offered members of the media a hard-hat tour of the new pavilion space on Tuesday, even as workers busied themselves with construction at the site.

While major construction of the project is on track to wrap up by the end of May, the $34 million space now dubbed Clock Tower Landing officially opens Friday, June 5, with a community ribbon-cutting ceremony planned, followed the next day by the first farmers market in the new pavilion space.

That means the pavilion will be ready to welcome World Cup visitors and community members alike for a summer of festivities planned at Clock Tower Landing, including soccer watch parties.

“I’m excited to see people coming down and making memories,” Toben said. “A lot of what we do in this community, especially within parks and recreation, is places for people to make memories, to get together.”

New pavilion will allow for year-round farmers market

One major change from the old pavilion — which was disassembled and put back together to serve as a market space in Garnett, Kansas — is the more enclosed structure, which will allow for year-round operation of the award-winning farmers market.

In years past, the farmers market has more or less ended in November around Thanksgiving, with a single winter market ahead of the December holidays. Some vendors continued to sell goods at the old farmers market pavilion through the winter months but in a more unofficial capacity.

At the new pavilion, the city plans to operate the farmers market throughout the year. The plan is to continue the regular season market through November, with a break on the Saturday after Thanksgiving.

Then, it will transition to an official holiday market that will run on Saturdays through December (excluding the Saturday after Christmas).

Kristina Stanley, farmers market manager, told the Post previously that the focus during those holiday markets will be more on offering gift-giving options over fresh produce.

After the holiday market, there will be a winter farmers market every Saturday between Jan. 9 and March 27. The winter market will pivot back to the more typical seasonal produce and grocery-oriented fare.

Then, the regular season will start back up in mid-April.

(Find more information about Johnson County farmers markets and their opening dates this year here.)

What’s happening right now at Clock Tower Landing?

In the meantime, “there is a massive amount of work that still has to be done,” Toben said, with crews working on site six days a week.

Right now, that time is spent completing a number of tasks, including finishing the roof and installing solar panels, putting up new structures to offer shade around Clock Tower Landing, and painting throughout the project site, among other things.

Toben said the project is on budget and on schedule despite a rough winter at the start of the project in late 2024 and early 2025. He estimated work crews should wrap up around May 20.

Take a look inside the Clock Tower Landing construction: 

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