On Saturday, CHMA was at the Sackville Farmers’ Market, which moved to its new winter location at the Tantramar Veterans Memorial Civic Centre at 182 Main Street four weeks ago. There are a few outdoor vendors set up along the fire lane, with the majority of market vendors set up inside at the mezzanine level of the centre.
Vanessa Blackier, the manager of the Sackville Farmers’ Market, is overwhelmingly positive when speaking about the experience of inhabiting this space for the first time after a challenging location search this year.
According to Blackier, vendors and customers are really excited about the space and relieved to have secured this location through a rental agreement with the municipality of Tantramar.
“We’re really optimistic about sharing the space. There have been some challenges just settling into the new location but we’re adjusting as we go. On the whole, things have been going really well.”
One of the concerns at the outset of this new tenancy was making sure the market community and hockey community, especially on tournament weekends, were able to manage parking and other shared space challenges.
On November 15th, those challenges were put to the test as the Tantramar Regional High School Lady Titans hosted their Shaune Coughlin Memorial Titan Your Skates Tournament.
“We were anxiously anticipating that date,” says Blackier. “We were really worried about parking because we understand that the civic centre is very busy for hockey events, and we also do have our market customers as well. But overall, there was space available throughout the morning, and we’ve got good plans for the tournament on November 29th for overflow parking.”
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The atmosphere is inviting in this new location, and with the windows overlooking the ice, it sets an almost nostalgic scene for a winter market. Windows are available for civic centre users, but Blackier notes that market customers are drawn to the windows as well and enjoy watching the figure skating and hockey practices. At the same time, those attending the centre for ice sports are spilling over into the market, creating an overlap of communities that offer potential positive outcomes for both.
Ross Williams of Ketchup With That Kitchen, a market vendor from Midgic who creates baked goods, fudge and more recently lollipops, has seen firsthand the benefits of the shared community space.
“The new location is great,” he says. “There’s lots of parking. It’s a nice indoor spot. All the vendors are able to get inside. All the ones that want to be inside are inside, and I feel like it’s attracting maybe some new customers too that we haven’t seen in a while.
“So I think the people that go to hockey during the Saturday market, they don’t have time to get down to the old market location and they’re here. So it’s great to see them. Lots of new faces.”
That seemed to be the consensus from the vendors CHMA spoke with. They are seeing people they haven’t seen before or haven’t seen in a while. And all felt attendance is up over early winter attendance from years past.
There have been some concerns raised around accessibility issues, and the market is working to mitigate those challenges. There are limited accessible handicap parking spaces, so there is a necessity to ensure that those spaces are being used only by those with permits.
The Sackville Farmer’s Market has a rental agreement with the Municipality of Tantramar to hold the market at the Tantramar Veterans Memorial Civic Centre until it returns to Bill Johnstone Memorial Park in the spring.
The Market runs on Saturdays from 9 am to 12 pm
For more information on the Market go to SackvilleFarmersMarket.ca
