No Stouffville Farmers' Market in 2016

Councillors debating move to Saturdays

Yorkregion.com
March 22, 2016
By Ali Raza

There will be no Stouffville Farmers' Market in 2016.

And if it returns next year, it could be held on Saturdays.

Councillor Rob Hargrave recommended moving the struggling market to Saturdays from Thursdays to attract more business during a meeting of Whitchurch-Stouffville council Tuesday afternoon.

But opposition to a Saturday market, was expressed by Councillor Iain Lovatt and CAO Marc Pourvahidi. Both cited competition as a reason why Saturday would be a difficult say to implement.

The privately owned Stouffville Country Market is open on Saturdays and Sundays from March through Christmas.

Markets are also held on Saturdays in other communities, including neighbouring Newmarket and Markham.

The downtown Stouffville market ran for seven years, first in Memorial Park and then in in the parking lot of the 6240 Main Street community centre. It ran for 23 weeks annually, between May and October.

Lovatt and Mayor Justin Altmann suggested "taking a year off", noting the town's office of economic development officer position remains vacant following a recent resignation.

Pourvahidi "certainly welcomes" delaying a year to market the event.

Councillor Rick Upton also welcomed taking a year off to develop and re-organize the market.

"Saturday is of course the day to do this," said Councillor Hugo Kroon.

Kroon said an entrepreneur may attempt to mount a replacement to the market and suggested working with them.

Council approved taking the year off and asked staff to produce a report to look at moving it to Saturdays.

" ... the market continues to struggle with maintaining community support,” according to a report presented to council last November. "Recruiting and keeping vendors has also proven to be challenging."

The new location helped increase sales and attendance but “it appears that the market continues to lose ‘farmers’ and offers more non-farm items than produce,” the report stated.