Monday, January 4, 2010

How About A Good Old "Traffic Cop"....

Well it certainly sounds like a nice idea but the reality is that the Farmer's Market was already Downtown, in CADC's "Harbourside" development, for a number of years and at that time the Market's Board of Director's "wanted out" as there was "no parking and no traffic"... back then I was involved with "The Cupboard" a high-end antique and giftware shop next to the Market in what is now the "Campbell Lea Law Firm" and we always got a lot of spin off traffic from the market which was much appreciated... but the "Market", like a lot of other larger progressive retailers, chose to relocate to a higher traffic area with a lot more parking... and the results over the years have been very positive to the point that they have already expanded "their building" and parking a couple of times and it surprises me that if there were a demand from more vendors for space, as Mayor Lee claims, then I'd expect the Market's Board would expand again... but for the Mayor to go out and encourage more "competition" for the existing Farmer's Market seems a bit odd to me and probably not financially feasible particularly when we look at the results of the "Best of PEI" and their recent venture in Downtown Charlottetown... the current Farmer's Market has really turned itself into a "Regional" marketplace that attracts people from all across the Island something the old Downtown location always struggled to do... it seems as though Mayor Lee is only focused on what should be done for Downtown and the rest of the City goes without... if there is any help Mayor Lee could pass on to the Farmer's Market it might be having the City Police help with some good old "traffic directions" on Saturday's between 9:00 am and 2:00 pm so customers can get in and out of the current market a little safer during their busy periods... a safer ingress and egress would probably bring more business to the market and in turn bring more people to Charlottetown which is good for everyone including our farmers and crafts people... a pimped out "Traffic Cop" would add a nice touch to a great market outing...
Lee pursuing farmers' market for downtown
DAVE STEWART
The Guardian
04/01/10
Charlottetown Mayor Clifford Lee wants to breathe new life into the concept of a farmers’ market in the downtown core. Lee said he intends to approach the current operators of the Farmers’ Market on Belvedere Avenue with a view to possibly opening a second location in the downtown area.It’s certainly not a new topic of conversation. A market in downtown Charlottetown has been talked about for years. In 2004, Downtown Charlottetown Inc. (DCI) issued a request for interested vendors for a market designed to showcase products made and grown on P.E.I. with the intent to create a market on the grounds outside Confederation Centre of the Arts. At the time, they were looking for Island artists, crafts people and performing artists as well as fresh fruit, vegetable and flower vendors for a market outside the Confederation Centre at Grafton and Queen streets. The idea there was to operate for a few hours on Saturdays. Lee isn’t sure how his plan would play out, where the market would be or when it would operate but he does stress that it would in no way replace the current market on Belvedere Avenue. “Definitely not. We aren’t about to try and force the current operation to make any changes to the operation,” Lee said recently. “It seems that the current operation is working extremely well for the people that are there.” But Lee does have concerns with the current market. “The two concerns that continue to be expressed to me is the fact there is a need for a market in the downtown core area and, second, I understand there are numerous vendors out there in the farming community who have been waiting for years to get into the Belvedere market but the space simply isn’t there and chances of getting in aren’t all that great.” Lee wants to find out from the farming community whether there is a desire for a second market. “Certainly, I’m all in favour of that. I’m looking forward to having discussions with people early in 2010 to see if we can move forward on this.” A lot of the talk over the years has zeroed in on Charlottetown’s waterfront. Some thought the current location of Founders’ Hall was the perfect area for a farmers’ market. The idea for a waterfront location always centred on its operating seven days a week, enticing the thousands of tourists who visit on those cruise ships each summer and fall. “I think it’s really a matter of getting the right players in the room to come to some type of agreement on what it can and should be,” Lee said.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Perhaps a good idea would also to expand the current hours of the Farmers Market and maybe be open another day in the week?

Journeyman said...

How about the Founders Hall location? There's lots of parking, it's easy to get to for people coming from down east.

The building isn't operating at full capacity as it is.