Monday, January 6, 2014

Street Market Report - January 5th, 2014

The first market of the year. Please visit - http://www.dtesstmkt.blogspot.ca/

It was the 187th Street Market at Pigeon Park on Sunday.

There is no other festival in the Downtown Eastside that can boast almost 200 event-days. This little street market is not only the heart of the Downtown Eastside, but possibly the largest historical event of the Downtown Eastside for all time.

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 join in this incredible celebration of micro-entrepreneurial spirit with the people of the DTES.

The day was sunny and brisk. Despite the cold, it was a packed market, almost at capacity with 190 vendors at noon.

Again, lots of stores were open around the edge of the park, showing the great relationship we have with the neighbouring businesses.

Our new plastic tables were all used. By adding 10 new plastic 5 foot tables, and storing our old wooden ones, we added 5 tables to the rotation. We now have 13 x 5 foot plastic tables total, 4 x 6 foot plastic tables, and 24 x 4 foot plastic tables - for 41 tables now in circulation. I’ll check the total tent and table rental to see if our revenue increased at all.

Everything went reasonably smoothly, except for one notable area.

We had been having trouble with a particular vendor, Fred, for quite some time and sent him a letter asking him not to vend or be a customer at the market in the future. Near the end of the market day, despite being given this letter, he threatened several vendors and volunteers and the police were called. I’ve included a copy of the letter that Fred was given.

It is our hope that this dangerous individual will be red-zoned from Pigeon Park. With cooperation from the police, this would be possible.

Apart from dealing with this one dangerous individual, the market was mostly peaceful and event free. The illicit drinkers were mostly peaceful, and our liaison - Ron  K did a great job during the day.

Here is a great new video from AHA Media of the set up crew at work in the morning - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yY51p6nfNFU

Financial Report

1) 50/50 Raffle = $58.65
2) Tent/Table Rental = $82.30
3) Coffee/Pop Sales = $90.00

Total Revenue for the day = $230.95
Total spending for the week = $891.99
(This amount ballooned due to the purchase of 10 new plastic tables - $448, over $100 worth of muffins for our vendor meeting,  and $168 worth of stipends at the meeting)

Vendor count = 190 @ noon

No comments:

Post a Comment