Permanent Vendor Village Taking Shape On Saint John Waterfront
SAINT JOHN–The new permanent Waterfront Container Village in the new home of the Area 506 festival is taking shape on Water Street in Saint John in two different ways.
Construction continues in its new home, next to the Marco Polo cruise ship terminal, and there has been strong interest from businesses since the application process started last fall.
Founder Ray Gracewood said they’ve had more than 100 conversations with different companies.
“We would be over half committed and another 25 to 30 per cent that are pretty far along the path so that puts us in, I think, a great place in terms of the amount of interest,” Gracewood said.
He said they are only using local tradespeople to do the work on 20 modified shipping containers in the retail location.
The Waterfront Container Village will also feature a “cruise crew lounge,” which is a two-storey container unit built specifically for cruise ship staff that will have washroom facilities.
“We are doing that work now. We started about a month ago. We’re into the welding, electrical and painting stages now. We are trying our best to give a bit of a behind the scenes perspective on our social media pages which has been pretty well received so far,” Gracewood said.
Gracewood said they see it as a bit of a marketing opportunity to unveil the names of the new vendors over time.
“Details about vendors that will be joining up with us for the summer and it also gets into the line up for the festival which we’ll look to do in late March, early April,” Gracewood said.
It has been announced that East Coast Lifestyle is one of the companies which will be part of the Waterfront Container Village this summer.
Gracewood said a confirmed 2022 cruise ship season in Saint John is a great piece of positive news for them.
“It’s a huge thing for the economy so everyone should see it as good news,” Gracewood said.
We are super stoked to announce @EASTCOASTLIFEST will be with us on the Saint John Waterfront all summer long.
Quickly becoming one of Atlantic Canada’s most iconic brands, proud to have you guys on board. pic.twitter.com/NzQLct9KSr
— AREA 506 (@area506fest) February 25, 2022
Tamara Steele is a reporter with CHSJ/Country 94, Huddle content partners.