New Market Ready For Debut

Posted on 5/20/2016 3:00 PM by Pete McIntyre 107.5 KISSFM

Something new starts this weekend in Vernon. The first of weekly Merchant Markets will be held from 10 am to 2 pm Saturday at Cenotaph Park. Dina Mostat from the Downtown Vernon Association says they are also encouraging other merchants to be out on their sidewalks. "We are hoping they are going to be out there with tents and sidewalk activities. There will be sidewalk cafes and sidewalk sales," Mostat tells Kiss FM. The markets will feature fresh produce, preserves, artisans and crafts. "We are building up Saturdays. We are celebrating Saturdays, so we are encouraging everybody to be out there and participate, and create a great, vibrant atmosphere." The DVA will also host Friday night events on one block of 32nd Avenue starting May 27th. "We are going for a block party atmosphere with that. There will be live music and entertainment, but also tastings and that kind of thing." The first Friday night event will be in the 3200 block of 32nd Avenue.

New vision for downtown Vernon market

February 09, 2016 - 6:30 PM By Charlotte Helston INFOTEL.CA
VERNON - Downtown market activities could look a little different in Vernon this summer. The Downtown Vernon Association proposed changes to the Avenue Market, which previously ran on Friday evenings during the summer months. Executive director Lara Konkin told Vernon council today, Feb. 9, the vision for 2016 is to offer two separate events, a Saturday market in Cenotaph Park and a Friday evening market once a month over the summer. Konkin said the market in Cenotaph Park would run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. from May to September. Farmers would be the focus of the market, but downtown merchants would be encouraged to participate by using the sidewalk space in front of their shops. The Friday night market is proposed to run on May 27, June 24, July 29, and Aug. 26. Only one block of Main Street (30 Avenue) would be used at a time. “We would rotate that market four times throughout the year,” Konkin said. Konkin said the proposals address concerns from previous years around parking, road closures, and undesired impacts on businesses. Both initiatives are aimed at boosting foot traffic and vibrancy in the downtown core. Vernon council will consider the proposal and discuss it at the next council meeting Feb. 22.

New Site & Day For Downtown Markets

Posted on 2/5/2016 by Pete McIntyre 107.5 KISSFM

There is a new plan for downtown markets in Vernon this summer. The Downtown Vernon Association will make a presentation to city council Tuesday, proposing Saturday Merchant Markets in Cenotaph Park, from 10 am to 2 pm, from May 21 to September 3. Executive director Lara Konkin says the plan would fulfill some of the goals of the City Centre Neighborhood Plan to enhance and expand the use of parks. "Cenotaph Park meets basic criteria for a successful location to host a market by being accessible by all forms of transit as well as a comfortable place for people to gather, visit, and eat. By utilizing Cenotaph Park for a Saturday market, the park will be activated and the surrounding merchants on 31st Street, where a growing trend of new and unique shops have opened, will benefit from increased foot traffic. All downtown merchants will be encouraged to participate through sidewalk and boulevard usage," says Konkin in a letter to the City of Vernon. The DVA is also proposing Downtown Night Markets on the last Friday of each month from May 27 to August 26, which would close down a different one block section each time. The group has held Friday night markets the last two years which have met with some opposition from merchants who were concerned the event negatively impacted their normal business. "As a result of these discussions and the compiled survey results, the Avenue Market Committee was created," says Konkin. "This committee is comprised of a diverse range of merchants representing businesses in support of the market as well as those that have voiced concern over the past two years that the market has been in operation. The committee convened on two occasions to discuss the outcome of the above mentioned surveys as well as to collaborate on ways to move forward as a unified group to ensure that the market would reach its goals."

Civic Arena's future

by Kate Bouey -CASTANET Dec 23, 2015 / 5:00 am
The Civic Arena may have a future in Vernon after Kal Tire Place is twinned. Mayor Akbal Mund says he would like it to remain standing and used for something else once its days as an ice sheet come to an end. A new arena is expected to be built and opened by the fall of 2018. Until then, the Civic will be babied along by city staff in hopes the ice sheet will last. “I know people are waiting to hear council's direction on the Civic Arena, which is obviously a decision we'll make in a couple of years, but I know, in talking with most of council, we'd like to use it for something else,” says Mund. The mayor says the big concern is the aging ice plant at the Civic, which staff say could fail at any time, knocking user groups off the ice. Mund says it would cost too much to replace the plant. “(But) the actual structure is sound, and I don't think there's anyone on council who would like to see that building torn down,” says Mund. City staff may not agree. Vernon recreation staff have pointed to the cracked floor, broken toilets and other issues. As well, exterior wall cracks were identified in a 2014 engineering report. When the walls were opened, water was found to have damaged the concrete foundations.

Propping up the old Civic

Kate Bouey - CASTANET / 6:00 pm
How can Vernon keep Civic Arena running even if a new ice sheet becomes a reality? That was the question to recreation facilities co-ordinator Jim Coughlin from city council on Monday. “It will have to last two to three more years even if (the referendum) passes,” Coun. Catherine Lord said. Greater Vernon residents will be asked in a Nov. 28 referendum to allow the North Okanagan Regional District to borrow $13.25 million for the twinning of Kal Tire Place. “It's all money-related,” Coughlin told council, comparing the Civic to a rusty car that could be rebuilt if enough money is spent on it.

Coughlin listed infrastructure that had been repaired yet continued to cause problems and other issues that are being tackled, including:

cracking top chord truss
cracks in perimeter concrete walls
roof joists/wall connections
code and safety items
west washroom repairs
north mechanical room water leak
dressing room toilets
arena seat heater shields/exhaust fans
north dressing room exhaust fan
1938 electrical system
emergency lighting upgrades and repairs
fire alarm panel upgrades
The cost for those repairs amounts to $52,000, according to a release. But Lord called them patchwork fixes, pointing to a 2014 report that said $5.6 million was needed to properly upgrade the 78-year-old arena – and “that is for it lasting only five to 10 years.” “Every time they go in to repair something, they discover something else,” said Lord. “We need to put a whole new building together for a second ice sheet.” Meanwhile, council has appointed Lord and Mayor Akbal Mund to meet with the Vernon farmers' market board of directors to determine an alternate location for the market, should a borrowing referendum be successful. Lord says the parking lot outside the recreation centre is one possibility. “We want to hear first hand what their concerns are and then see if we can deal with them and see if we can come up with something that they're going to be a little bit happy with,” Lord said. “They're not going to be happy with anything because they are going to be relocated, but we're going to try to make it as easy as possible,” she admitted.