City council rejects farmer’s market proposition

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According to Mayor Greg Dionne, the issue was hotly debated, but eventually they had to come to a decision.

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“We didn’t want to open up our foyer and set a precedent,” said Dionne. “If we allow the farmer’s market, the next thing, people will be vying for a craft sale.”

“[We decided] that it wasn’t the place for people to do business.”

Still, Dionne insists the decision was made because of practicality.

“The main reason was the security of our building,” he said.

City Hall doesn’t have security on weekends or at night. Council decided the building would be better if kept locked up at those times.

Gill said they planned on working with the City to invest in furniture and banners to make it more of an obvious farmer’s market area.

Now, it’s back to the drawing board for a new location.

“We’ll have to go back and discuss it with our board as to when our next step is,” said Gill.

Despite some recent difficulties, Gill said they have every intention to continue with the winter farmer’s market. At the Annual General Meeting the venders were in favor of it.

While he won’t specify their next step, Gill said some of the board members had talked to people at other locations. Together the board will decide which venue option they want to pursue next.

Dionne said he expects the winter farmer’s market will recover with a new location.

“They’ll find another alternative; they have in the past,” said Dionne. “We support them heavily in the summer with the use of our parking lot every Saturday. But at the same time they don’t have access to our building in the summer, so we decided just to continue that on.”

Although they are discussing a new location for the winter, so far this years’ summer farmer’s market has been a hit. Gill said produce will likely be aplenty because of the nice weather, especially compared to the late springs of the past couple of years.

“We’ve gotten off to an excellent start,” said Gill. “We’ve had good numbers right now and the weather has been excellent, so we’re expecting a really great year.”

asoloducha@panow.com

On Twitter: @alex_soloducha