They had three weeks to make it happen, but Okotoks United Church members say they managed to make the Creamery Community Market successful in its first summer.
Organizer Bev Carlson said the market went well in its inaugural year, and the group hopes to run it again in 2017. She said it usually takes two years to put together a good, popular market and next year would be even better.
Most weeks saw an average of 14 vendors and between 200 to 300 shoppers.
“Overall I think the vendors were pretty pleased,” said Carlson. “I have a whole list who want to be back next year, we have a bunch of people who are asking if that’s happening.”
Organizers will have to wait until January to find out whether the market will be back next year.
Town council voted on Oct. 24 to decide by the first meeting in January whether a community market will be held on the creamery site in 2017. The Okotoks United Church will operate the market should council decide to run it for a second year.
Coun. Carrie Fischer said the decision needs to be delayed because council is currently deliberating the future of the site after the century-old creamery barn was torn down after a fire in May 2015. The Town’s insurance provider will require a final decision from council in the new year as to whether the land will be developed.
“We don’t have a full understanding of council’s intent for that site,” said Fischer. “Having said that, I appreciate that decision has to come early in the year to secure vendors.”
Carlson said the sooner council decides to have the market run through next summer, the better so she can get to the planning process. Many vendors are booked almost a year in advance, she said.
“It was put together really quick last year and that in and of itself, I think we did amazing because it was such a short time period from organization to fruition,” said Carlson. “If we can get vendors committed now we can have a really strong season next year.”
One lessons learned in 2016 was to expect the unexpected and that it’s impossible to predict the weather, she said.
While weather co-operated through July and the market saw some busy and successful days, August and September brought a lot of cooler and rainy days, which kept people away.
“That was a bit of a challenge but we rolled with those punches and made the most of it,” said Carlson.
She said she was pleasantly surprised by the number of volunteers who stepped up to make it work, and with how easy it was to work with vendors.
“Everybody that’s been doing this, I’ve been told horror stories of vendors, horror stories of people, and we had nothing but fantastic experiences,” said Carlson. “It was really good in that regard.”
Though the market was originally planned to run until the end of October, many vendors could not continue to offer their goods past the end of September and the Creamery Community Market wrapped up on Oct. 1.
