Northside Creators Market To Open In Late March
FREDERICTON – The Northside Creators Market will open March 20 at 170 Main Street, filling the void left by the closure of the Northside Market one year ago.
Jim Middleton, chairman of the Board of Directors, says he is excited to open the city’s only non-for-profit vendor-owned market and provide a place for vendors across Fredericton.
“I think what I’m most excited about is what our ultimate vision for the space is and the variety of options that we have in the community,” he said.
After the closure of the Northside Market in 2020, past vendors formed the Board of Directors for the Northside Creators Market. They operated out of Picaroons on weekends where vendors were able to set up and take down each weekend.
The new location on Main Street will allow vendors to establish semi-permanent space in the market and establish their business presence.
“We’re already seeing people upping their games, building new moveable booths that they can bring into their space, nice countertops, and better display areas,” he said.
The market will operate on Saturdays from 8 am until 2 pm and Sundays from 10 am to 2 pm. For the rest of the week, the space will be available to rent by vendors for classes, art showcases, or other purposes.
“We’ll have the space available all the time,” said Middleton. “We have these other means to use the space throughout the week.”
Middleton says that after operating at Picaroons, it became clear they needed a bigger, more permanent space. At Picaroons, they were limited to a maximum of 25 vendors,
With public health guidelines related to Covid-19, Middleton says the number of vendors will likely not exceed 50 for the time being, but in the future, they will allow for a maximum of 65 to 70 vendors.
“Our ultimate vision several years from now is to have our own building, a very large space with maybe 120 vendors that we could host outdoor events as well as indoor stuff,” said Middleton. “But we knew that there’s a gap between where we were with 25 tables and where we wanted to grow.”
While the new location is in a busy area of the city, he hopes that diminished weekend traffic will provide lots of parking space for customers and vendors alike.
“We’ve been monitoring what traffic patterns are like and how many people we can have in the parking lot,” said Middleton. “It’s a much bigger space for parking than we had previously.”
“We’re going to have a variety of stuff,” said Middleton. “Tons of food vendors, we brought back a lot of city favourites like Yummy Samosas, a wide variety of cultural offerings, and English baking. There’s a nice broad salad of what we can offer the community now.”
Some other vendors confirmed are Snak., The Bath Shack, and Freddy Bean Roasters, and visual artists including Middleton himself.
As the opening date approaches, Middleton says all the final steps of preparation, including implementing public health protocols and ensuring electrical is set to handle all of the vendors, are going according to plan.
“We’re non-profit, so it’s all hands on deck,” said Middleton. “We’re incredibly grateful for the funding that we’ve had from community donations, donations from businesses, private donations, and we were recently awarded a grant to help cover electrical and plumbing from the Minister of Agriculture, which was fantastic.”
Middleton encourages anyone with an interest in the market to make a tax-deductible donation on their website.
“A lot of work comes from costs being covered out of our own pockets,” he said. “We greatly appreciate the support we’ve already had and would really appreciate anybody that feels they would like to help contribute.”
Liam Floyd is a reporter for Huddle. Send him story suggestions: [email protected].