In what would have been its fourth year, Kitimat’s Public Market has packed it in.
At least the usual organizers of the markets, Kitimat Community Services Society, said they won’t continue operating it.
They said the door is left open to anyone else who may want to keep the markets alive.
“Community Services started the market with the expectation that after a few years of building momentum...that a separate, independent market association would form,” said Willow Rudiger at community services.
That information was shared with vendors and volunteers but few took up KCSS’ offer to help get that separate association off the ground.
“Nothing happened,” she said.
The market, she said, had never reached a self-sustaining level.
“The market was always taken at a loss every year. The only funding that was really coming from the market was from vendor fees and it never really covered all the budgetary costs through advertising, insurance and everything,” she said. “It’s sad because it’s a very cool thing. It’s not that community services doesn’t want there to be a market.”
She said there are materials left over that any interested persons can use if they wanted to keep the torch going and there is help for those who want to get involved going forward. She said even if not this year it could always begin again next year.
She said for her it was about 10-15 hours a week to work on the markets, which on average had 14 vendors come out.