(Lacombe Farmers Market - Facebook)

By Phillip Maiani

Staying At Michener Park

No location change planned for Lacombe Farmers Market this year

Mar 6, 2022 | 2:08 PM

The Lacombe Farmer’s Market will be staying at Michener Park for 2022.

The market had made a request to Lacombe city council recently to relocate from its Michener Park location as a pilot project for 2022. The new, proposed location would run along 51 Avenue between 51 and 53 Streets while utilizing the northern portion of the Lacombe Memorial Centre parking lot.

As a part of the pilot, the hours of operation would also change. Instead of being held Friday’s from 9 a.m. – 1 p.m., the market would take place Thursday evenings from 3 p.m. – 7 p.m.

The market believes the move would promote further expansion, improve accessibility for patrons with mobility issues and generate beneficial traffic for local businesses.

As part of the implementation of the pilot, vendors would be required to provide their own garbage receptacles.

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Parks staff would be needed to set up barricades in the afternoon before vendors arrive and would also do a final garbage sweep on Friday mornings to collect any remaining refuse.

Council was in agreement that having the Lacombe Farmer’s Market move downtown would be ideal but there were still concerns about how the proposed location would affect businesses in the area.

“I look forward to it moving downtown. I hope it won’t be as disruptive as some people feel it will be and if it is, maybe we can re-evaluate two months in and be flexible enough to move it back. That’s my only concern.” said councillor Don Gullekson.

“I think that the idea of moving downtown with the farmer’s market is an exceptional one. However, I do feel that this proposal more or less matches exactly what was brought forward before,” added councillor Thalia Hibbs. “My concern is that this would be particularly burdensome on a few businesses and I don’t really think that is fair.”

Mayor Grant Creasey also had questions about why more of the vendors were not asked about their thoughts on the proposal and believes that blocking off a section of the street every week would negatively affect local businesses in that area.

“Adjusting street use is kind of a big thing. I think that that is perfectly fine for special events and one-offs but this is for every Thursday from May through October. This is a substantial ask and even though I do support the farmer’s market, I also support our brick-and-mortar businesses that operate here in the city as well,” explained Creasey.

Ultimately, the proposal was rejected by a vote of 4-3, with Mayor Creasey and Councillors Hibbs, Hoekstra, and Konnik opposed.

The pilot proposal could return before council later because the motion was for the 2022 season.

If the proposal to move the Lacombe Farmer’s Market downtown was to return to council, Mayor Creasey hopes the proposal would contain more clarity to the questions council had.