I'll admit that I may not have all the facts on this & welcome comments from anyone who can set the record straight. What I'm writing about is based on the scant information provided by twitter, www.newmarket.ca, and www.newmarketfarmersmarket.com. To be truthful, there isn't much information out there and perhaps that too is a problem. (Like so many other issues, the Newmarket Era doesn't report on this matter. It just re-confirms why blogs like this are so important to people who want local news coverage).
Newmarket Council voted yesterday to waive extra fees for vendors. While this may be "good politics" it really is a "bad government" move. The Newmarket Farmer's Market has been in existence for more than 10 years. It is a viable business model that doesn't require government subsidy. It is no longer in the start-up phase of its existence.
The vendors who maintain booths at the Farmers Market are private enterprises. They are there to make a buck. Very few of these vendors are based locally. By contrast, we have local grocery stores, owned by local residents, and who employ many hundreds of employees. I was saddened to see a grocery store on Leslie St. north of Davis being shuttered and jobs lost recently. Who is offering to waive their business related fees?
Some Councillors have said that the Newmarket Farmers Market is essential to create economic growth for the Town. I say that is a crock. If they are referring to jobs, well the Price Chopper on Leslie provided the Town with more employment than the half-day a week, seasonal jobs that may be produced by the Farmers Market. Yet, there was no special Council action taken to prevent those job losses.
If the Councillors believe that the Newmarket Farmers Market creates tourism, then I think they are wrong on that account too. Each of our neighbours, Stouffville, Aurora, East Gwillimbury, have their own weekend farmers market. There is no evidence that people are bypassing those communities to drive specifically the one in Newmarket. Let's be honest and admit that the people shopping at the Newmarket Farmers Market are predominantly locals.
What gets my goat is that this is a government hand out for a group of "for profit" businesses. Let's contrast this with the Heart of York Soccer Tournament that the Newmarket Soccer Club hosts each year. The Newmarket Soccer Club is a "not-for-profit" club. The HOY tournament brought 197 youth soccer teams to Newmarket this past August. Assuming each team has 15 players, that means a grand total of almost 9,000 visitors for each of the two-day tournament, (assuming each player travels with 2 parents or 45 visitors associated with each team). Likely, these visitors bought gas, ate lunch, visited the mall and so on in between games. The economic spin-off for the local economy is in the $100's of thousands. Keep in mind, these are visitors not local residents. Despite all of this economic benefit, I didn't find any Council involvement to waive fees for the Newmarket Soccer Club.
When local residents buy at the Farmers Market from people who have businesses based elsewhere, that hurts our local economy. You are taking consumer money that would have otherwise been spent in a Newmarket grocery store and giving it to a business that contributes no taxes, no fees, no jobs to our Town. All these Farmers Market businesses do is take, take, take.
When we use taxpayer dollars to fund non-local farmers, the Council is engaged in depleting our local economy. Its a dumb move and all residents should be outraged by their "photo-op" motivated decision.
I wish the blogger would get the facts straight before posting. The Newmarket Farmers Market has rules to encourage local vendors. This market has the most local vendors than any other market in York Region. There is next to no farmland left in Newmarket, so many vendors are from EG, Bradford, etc. To start charging them now, after 13 years would be an insult. The Market was created to bring people to the downtown, and that it does very well. EG and Aurora both subsidize their markets. Newmarket should do the same, or at the least not charge petty extra fees. The vendors at the market are successful, but not enough to pay more in stall fees. I am a vendor, board member, and past market President.
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