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."