Canmore Business and Tourism has taken over administration and running of the summer Mountain Market in front of the Civic Centre.
Canmore council voted unanimously on Tuesday night (Feb. 4) to transfer the responsibility from the Town’s finance department to CBT and provide $14,000 from the Economic Development Reserve.
Manager of finance Katherine Van Keimpema told council since the farmers market moved to the plaza in front of the Civic Centre, her department has managed it without funding or a budget while it has grown into a successful weekly event during the summer months.
“We thought that probably was not the best home for it anymore, so we were exploring options of how best the Mountain Market can be run,” she said. “It does bring business to those around the market and there is an opportunity to grow and develop that further.”
CBT President and CEO Andrew Nickerson said the $14,000 a year would provide for a staff member to run the market and also conduct a statistical analysis of it in order to provide recommendations next year for growth.
“There has been a lot of talk about the market in the past,” Nickerson said. “What we need to do is get a full understanding of the actual impact and effect of the market.”
He said the analysis will include looking at what vendors are there, the economic impact of customers and growth potential. There have been numerous studies about markets in general that indicate they attract visitors who then spend money in surrounding businesses.
“However there are also a lot of strong emotional responses people have towards the market; some people love them, some don’t and some people see them as competition,” Nickerson said. “What we want to do is understand it.”
Van Keimpema said the draw from the economic development reserve is a one-time situation for this year, as administration is in the process of reviewing the business registry bylaw. Fees for the Mountain Market are included in the bylaw and to change them before the full review would require public consultation.
“For me, it doesn’t make sense to go out to public consultation for a portion of the fees when we are looking at the whole bylaw,” she said.
