Things to Do at Church Street Marketplace

Church Street Marketplace stretches four pedestrian-only blocks through the heart of Burlington. On a good summer evening, three buskers compete from different corners. A fiddle player works the top of the hill. Halfway down, a steel-drum kit keeps time. Someone with an acoustic guitar works the patio crowds outside Leunig's Bistro. The bricks underfoot are uneven in places, worn smooth by four decades of foot traffic since the city closed Church Street to cars in 1981. The smell shifts as you walk. Maple-glazed nuts roast from a sidewalk cart near Cherry Street. Woodsmoke drifts off the Farmhouse Tap & Grill's grill. A cold metallic tang of Lake Champlain wind slides down the hill from the waterfront. The marketplace works because Burlington kept it weird in a way most American downtowns lost decades ago. You'll find a Lululemon and an Apple Store, sure. They share blocks with Outdoor Gear Exchange's three-story used-gear cathedral. Crow Bookshop's creaky-floored secondhand stacks still stand. A Ben & Jerry's has been there long enough to feel like a civic institution rather than a tourist trap. Vermont law caps building heights downtown. The brick storefronts feel human-scaled. The spire of the First Unitarian Church anchors the north end of the hill like it has since 1816. What tends to surprise first-time visitors is how lived-in Church Street feels. University of Vermont students cut through on their way to class. Retirees hold court at the outdoor tables of Mirabelles Café. Families with kids in Bogs boots eat maple creemees on the curb in October. It's touristy for good reason. The locals haven't conceded it.

Most visitors walk in from downtown hotels. Church Street is the spine of central Burlington. Almost everything is within a 10-minute stroll. From Burlington International Airport, it's a short taxi or rideshare ride. Typically 10, 15 minutes depending on traffic on Williston Road. Rates are noticeably cheaper than what you'd pay leaving a major-city airport. Greyhound and the Vermont Translines bus drop at the downtown transit center, two blocks east. Drivers should aim for the Marketplace Garage on Cherry Street or the Lakeview Garage on College Street. On-street parking on the side streets is metered. It tends to fill by mid-morning on summer weekends. The pedestrian zone itself is car-free from Pearl Street south to Main Street.