Downtown businesses concerned an extra Mountain Market day would compete with their businesses can breathe a sigh of relief.
Officials with Canmore Business and Tourism have announced they will no longer pursue expanding the market this summer, but will look at options for 2013 and beyond.
President and CEO Andrew Nickerson had appeared before Town council in January to present the idea. At the time, he said, several issues would need to be addressed, however, vendors needed to know if the market would expand before the end of January to make their seasonal commitments.
Results of a survey by the Downtown Business Association were also unavailable at that time and have since shown lukewarm support.
“We have been clear from the beginning that we would not proceed with the Saturday market without the full support of Canmore Downtown Business Association,” Nickerson said.
With 42 members out of approximately 200 responding to the survey, support for the expansion was 61.9 per cent.
The decision to not pursue the expansion this year was by both organizations and executive director of the downtown association Marty Avery said the feeling was there needed to be more baseline information to ensure the market would be a success before it moved ahead.
“Canmore Business and Tourism has a mandate to proactively seek opportunities for economic development in the community and we are thrilled that their organization is looking for ways to draw visitors and residents into downtown Canmore,” Avery said. “Throughout their evaluation process they have done a great job of listening to CDBA members’ concerns about the Saturday summer market and have come up with many workable solutions.”
Both organizations will spend the next year establishing a strategic plan and review options for a Saturday Mountain Market for 2013.
“Together, Marty Avery and I want to ensure that any and all events that involve our downtown businesses are of an exceptional quality consistent with the level of excellence that our community strives to achieve,” Nickerson said. “We want downtown events which are on target with strategies for both our organizations so that we attract, energize and engage locals, visitors and local businesses.”
