The 185th Street Market at Pigeon Park on Sunday
Our 200th market day at Pigeon Park on Sunday will take place on April 6th - This will be a day of celebration for the Downtown Eastside. We plan to invite City Councillors, dignitaries, and anyone that wants to celebrate with the people of the DTES.
The day was only slightly drizzly, and quite mild considering that it was the first day of winter...
This was the last Sunday market at Pigeon Park before Christmas, and the penultimate market of the year.
Lots of creatures were stirring, all over the park, making their last few sales on this drizzly Sunday.
Not one negative event that I can recall over the course of the day, and lots of positive ones...
Mark Bradshaw of the VPD did a walk through of the market. We made sure that he knew that we appreciated his presence, and that we welcomed him back. He made a few jokes, and nabbed someone selling some contraband. Luckily for us, the person was outside the market at the time...
We had at least one group giving away blankets, clothing, toiletries, lots of food. It definitely was a friendly Christmas atmosphere all over the market.
The clean up went great. The park was clear by 5:30pm, and the garbage truck came early, shortly after.
The final shift went home before 6pm, which I believe is a record.
Sales of coffee and tents was quite good given that there were only 95 vendors in the park this Sunday.
As a final note before Christmas, I want to give a warm thanks to all the volunteers that work the Street Market week in and week out. They do real work for a small stipend, usually about $3 per hour. They pile about 1/2 tonne of garbage in one spot from all over the park, and maintain peace and order during the day. They watch out for their fellow vendors, and really take pride in this unique downtown eastside creation we call the Pigeon Park Street Market.
God bless all the volunteers and vendors, and God protect them from the greedy and the ignorant.
In this time of giving. In this time of the year where we should all count our blessings, I am sincerely begging those with power, wealth, secure warm homes, and loving families to take a moment to reflect on what we have built in our neighbourhood with so little.
Financial Report
1) Coffee Sales = $80.00
2) Tents and Tables = $94.75
3) Donations = $21.00
4) 50/50 Raffle = $46.65
Total revenue = $242.40
Total spending for the week = $240.64
Profits for the week = $1.76
(most of the spending was associated with the snow fall. we purchased a salt spreader, 4 bags of salt, and spread this over the sidewalk outside 62 east hastings. We also spread a lot of salt over our neighbours at the Pigeon Park savings bank and in the stores to the west on hastings)
Vendor Count = 95 @ noon
On another note, we picked up some great office equipment thanks to Central City Foundation and Gourlay, Spencer and Wade… the law firm that was moving out of their location.
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