Wanda Pendergraft was selling fresh fruit and vegetables at last Wednesday evening’s Market on Main. This was the last Wednesday market of the season, but Saturday morning markets will continue into September. (Richard McGuire photo)
Market on Main held its final Wednesday evening market of the season on Aug. 27 and organizers are happy with how this summer has gone.
“I think we’ve had more tourists this year,” said Janis St. Louis, chair of Market on Main’s board. “We moved up to the town hall and we’ve gotten a little bit more visibility here with people driving by.”
The Wednesday market was moved to Town Square, the same location as the Saturday markets, in late July in order to resolve a dispute over noise levels with the Osoyoos Beach Volleyball League.
It turned out to be a good move.
“We all agree that this was good,” said St. Louis. “We liked it down at Gyro and I think it’s nice to be able to use our parks, but this worked out better in the long run, so we’re happy with it.”
The vendors will discuss future plans at their annual meeting in October, she said.
“We will do whatever the vendors tell us that they would like to do,” she said. “So far the feedback is that Wednesday nights are great, do it at town hall.”
The wineries have been very happy to be able to set up booths at the markets for tasting and sales, she said.
This was introduced at both the Wednesday evening and Saturday morning markets as a result of new provincial liquor regulations.
Seven wineries have set up booths at different times over the summer. Usually they are smaller wineries that don’t have products in the government liquor stores, so being at the market has given them exposure, St. Louis said.
“Some of our other regular vendors are finding that they’ve had more sales this year, “ she said. “Even though we’ve had fewer vendors in number, we’ve had more people shopping, so that’s a good thing.”
Saturday markets will continue into September, but for how long will depend on produce vendors, St. Louis said.
RICHARD McGUIRE
Osoyoos Times
