Amplify Kalamazoo - Kalamazoo Dedicates New Don Cooney Cultivation Center at Farmers Market
On Monday, 11/17/2025, city leaders, community members, and longtime supporters gathered at the Kalamazoo Farmers Market to dedicate the newly completed Don Cooney Cultivation Center, a multi-purpose building designed to expand youth programming and serve as an indoor farmers market. The event marked a milestone in a years-long effort to improve the Bank Street site and create a space that will meaningfully benefit the community by strengthening youth opportunities and providing a modern, year-round gathering place.
The ceremony began with remarks from Patrick McVerry, Director of Kalamazoo Parks & Recreation, who thanked the many partners who contributed—ranging from the City Manager’s Office to the Irving S. Gilmore Foundation and Southwest Michigan First. He praised the work of contractors, architects, and project leads, noting their dedication in bringing “this beautiful building to come to fruition.”
City Manager Jim Ritsema followed, calling it “an exciting day for Kalamazoo” and highlighting the importance of a facility built largely with federal funds but shaped heavily by local collaboration. Ritsema, attending his final public event before retirement, emphasized how the space will support both youth development and the farmers market for years to come.
Kalamazoo Mayor David Anderson offered reflections on the significance of investing in new public spaces. “In the city, a lot of our work is fixing things,” he said. “But sometimes we get to build new things. And this is one of those times.” He spoke about the importance of in-person connection, saying the building encourages people to “interact IRL… where we really get to know people.”
The event then shifted into a surprise dedication honoring Commissioner Don Cooney, who has served the community for 26 years. Anderson described Cooney as someone who works quietly but powerfully, comparing his impact to the building’s deep concrete piers—“unseen… foundational work” that holds everything up. With that, he announced the building’s official name: The Don Cooney Cultivation Center. Cooney, visibly surprised, said, “I’m pretty shocked about the whole thing… I’m glad this building is up. I think it’ll be a great asset to the neighborhood.”
Michigan State Senator Sean McCann presented a formal tribute from the State of Michigan, praising Cooney as “a true giant… passionate, caring, dedicated,” and reminding the crowd how different Kalamazoo would be “if his amazing energy… hadn’t been spent here.” He closed by leading the audience through a quote from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., saying the words embody Cooney’s lifelong work.
The event concluded with attendees gathering outside to view the new signage on the building, now carrying Cooney’s name—a lasting acknowledgment of his decades of service and his commitment to justice, youth, and community building in Kalamazoo.
Watch Ron Kramer, sociology professor at Western Michigan University and host of “Critical Issues, Alternative Views,” sit down with Commissioner Don Cooney at PMN Studios in July 2023. In this conversation, Kramer and Cooney explore Cooney’s decades of activism and the many social and political struggles he has engaged in:
Part 1:
https://archive.org/details/PMNcritical_issues_alt_views_2023_07
Part 2:
https://archive.org/details/part-2-the-life-and-times-of-don-cooney
