"I have lived in downtown Overland Park my entire life, and I wanted to see what we're paying for," Tamra Batt told the Johnson County Post at the Clock Tower Landing ribbon-cutting on June 5. "It's actually very cool. I'm glad the construction is over. I think it's great that the vendors are going to be covered in the bad weather."
All summer, the new $34 million pavilion at 7950 Marty Street ran as a shade structure with a packed Saturday crowd. Starting this Saturday, October 3, it gets to do the job it was built for. The bad weather Batt mentioned is close, and the pavilion has heat. That means the Overland Park Farmers Market can stay in the middle of downtown through the coldest Saturdays of the year, and the rest of the downtown calendar is already lining up around it.
What the building changed
The old pavilion was a roof over a parking lot. After the market's final day there on December 7, 2024, fences went up, and the structure was taken down and given to Garnett, Kansas, about an hour southwest. The 2025 season ran in the Matt Ross Community Center parking lot. This spring's market opened there too, until the move to Clock Tower Landing on June 6.
When the project was still on paper in 2024, the city described the new pavilion as bigger and enclosed, which would let the market run year-round. The finished building has the parts that make that work in January:
- Heat in winter and shade in summer. Vendors also get many places to plug in refrigeration units and cooking gear.
- Twelve restroom stalls plus a family restroom. The old site had two stalls.
- A level floor. Construction removed what had been a 10- to 12-foot grade change from the top of the old market area to the bottom, just off Santa Fe Drive behind the clock tower. Stairs and a ramp now lead up to the Clock Tower Landing level.
Those details matter more in December than in June. Power at the stalls means vendors can bring refrigerated product and hot food on a cold morning. The extra restrooms and the level floor make it easier to stay a while when it's 30 degrees out. Shoppers outside the old pavilion got covered stalls. This one is built so the winter market feels like the summer market at a lower temperature.
The cold-season calendar, Saturday by Saturday
The city's posted schedule moves the market through three phases after summer. Hours also get shorter. The 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. window ended with the summer season, and the Wednesday market had its last day on September 2.
| Season | Saturdays | Hours | Off weeks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fall Farmers Market | October 3 to November 21 | 8 a.m. to noon | None |
| Holiday Farmers Market | December 5 to 19 | 8 a.m. to noon | November 28 |
| Winter Farmers Market | January 9 to March 27 | 8 a.m. to noon | December 26 |
Some event listings still show the old 7:30 a.m. start or name Matt Ross as the location. The city's own market schedule is the reliable one for this fall. It sets fall hours at 8 a.m. to noon, and the location is the pavilion at Clock Tower Landing. The first winter Saturday is January 9.
No one has published a winter-only vendor list. A Johnson County Post profile in March named returning market businesses such as Jordy's Honey from Hughes Family Farm, TableTop Farms and Zen Donkey. It also noted that the new site has room for more vendors than the old one. A winter Saturday in March will probably look different from a June Saturday. The point is that it happens under the same roof, on the same block, at the same hours as the fall market.
The big downtown dates fall on market weekends
The pavilion was also meant to work as a gathering space for watch parties, concerts and public events. It hosted two World Cup watch parties in June and July. The fall and holiday calendar puts it to use more often, and the biggest dates land on or next to market Saturdays.
- Friday, October 9, 4 to 8 p.m. Bourbon, Bacon & Brews takes over the Clock Tower Landing Pavilion. The event is 21+.
- Friday, October 16, 5 to 7 p.m. Third Fridays brings local artists and their work to the district.
- Saturday, October 24, 2 to 4 p.m. Downtown OP's Trick-or-Treat Event sends families to local businesses. It starts two hours after the market closes the same day.
- Friday, November 20, 5 to 8 p.m. The Mayor's Holiday Festival has its program and tree lighting at Clock Tower Landing from 5:30 to 6 p.m. Santa, children's activities, local vendors, live music and food trucks are also listed. The next morning, November 21, is the last fall market.
- Saturday, December 5. The Holiday Stroll runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The Overland Park Holiday Market at Clock Tower Landing runs from 8 a.m. to noon, Santa visits Clock Tower Plaza from 10 a.m. to noon, and businesses across the district hold a Holiday Open House.
Look at the Friday tree lighting followed by the Saturday market on November 20 and 21, or the three overlapping events on December 5. Downtown's largest holiday dates now happen on the same few hundred feet of pavement as the market, on the same weekends.
Santa Fe Drive is filling in around the pavilion
Several businesses within a short walk of the clock tower opened or announced plans this year. Their timing lines up with the pavilion's first fall and winter.
| Business | Address | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Kiyoshi Omakase | 8016 Santa Fe Drive | Opened in April in the former Abol space |
| The Inked Page | 7942 Santa Fe Drive | Opened in August, replacing the earlier Ink & Page bookstore |
| Monstera's | 7926 Floyd Street | Doubling its downtown store into the former Torreador Mexican Cantina space, targeting the start of the holiday season |
| Flight Crew Coffee | 8025 Santa Fe Drive | Taking over the former Unique Finds space, targeting a November 1 opening |
Two of these are still plans. In early September, Flight Crew Coffee's owner was aiming to open by November 1 and mentioned a possible late-October soft opening. Monstera's expansion is scheduled for the start of the holiday season. If both arrive on time, a cold Saturday at the market will have a new coffee stop across Santa Fe Drive and a bigger Monstera's around the corner on Floyd before the Holiday Stroll.
Parking works differently than it used to
Under the old pavilion, people parked beneath the roof. The new design ended that. In 2024 the city planned for 160 spaces around the pavilion's edge, and its project list promises continued access to parking on non-market days. On market days, the lot next to the pavilion is not public parking. The Johnson County Post sends visitors to street parking or the Edison garage at 8029 Overland Park Drive, which is free on weekends. The city also keeps a downtown parking map with the public options.
That walk from the garage matters more as the season goes on. On December 5, the Holiday Market, Santa at the plaza and the district open house will all need parking during the same morning hours.
A first winter worth watching
The city's 2026 projections called for 12,000 Saturday visitors and 3,000 on Wednesdays. Those were forecasts made in January, before the pavilion opened. KSHB's report on the first Saturday at Clock Tower Landing described the pavilion filling soon after opening but gave no attendance count. The real test of the building is whether January and February Saturdays bring people downtown the way the summer opening did. The Winter Farmers Market runs Saturdays from January 9 to March 27, from 8 a.m. to noon, under a heated roof at 7950 Marty Street.
At Joseph Pfannenstiel, we pay attention to how a building like Clock Tower Landing is put together, from the leveled grade to the power at each stall, because those details decide how a public space holds up and what grows around it. If you live near downtown Overland Park and want to know how projects like this affect your block over time, contact us. We're happy to talk it through.
