Dysart et al council has reduced its financial ask from the Haliburton farmers market to return to Head Lake Park, although market officials remain unconvinced.
At a Jan. 23 meeting, mayor Murray Fearrey said he and his council want to maintain a farmers market in the village, but are adamant the Haliburton County Farmers Market Association (HCFMA) should pay if they want it back in Head Lake Park.
The event was held at the downtown park for 11 years before being moved to nearby Rotary Beach Park last season.
Brian Nash, of the HCFMA board, said the relocation was not well received, by vendors or the public. Attendance was down approximately 30 per cent while some merchants opted not to move.
The association has stated it will not return to Rotary Beach this season, previously telling The Highlander there likely won’t be a market in Haliburton unless it’s returned to Head Lake Park. Dysart’s latest offer is for the HCFMA to pay approximately $4,200 to run the upcoming season at the site, based on having 40 vendors for 21 events.
Fearrey said, “we have arrived at $5 per [vendor] for each market event. So, if in May you have 12 vendors, that would cost $60 to run. If it’s July and you have 40 vendors, that would be $200. If there’s bad weather, or you decide not to run a market, there wouldn’t be [any charge]. That’s a substantial difference financially to what we proposed before.”
Farmers remain unconvinced
In December, the mayor suggested charging the association $1,000 for each market during the “busy” summer months – July, August and September – with a $700 fee applied for any other month, for a total cost of around $15,000. That was then lowered to a flat rate $1,000 per month to run events in July, August and September, and $700 in May, June and October, totaling $5,100.
“We have a lot of money to spend on the park. Nobody is trying to take advantage of the farmers,” Fearrey said, noting township staff often had to carry out repairs at the park after market events.
In a letter to council, the association replied, “we take exception to your suggestion the market causes such extensive damage… to justify a $5,100 (now $4,200) annual damage fee… while we are aware of the odd tire track on very rainy days, or perhaps damage to sprinklers, we have no knowledge of any ‘significant’ damage we have ever caused.”
Nash said the board has offered, in the past, to reimburse the municipality for any landscaping work, but claims they were told the issues “were an easy fix” by parks and recreation staff.
Nash said the board has asked the township for records highlighting any major damages. The Highlander has made a similar request, though no evidence has been provided.
HCFMA board member Angel Taylor said the association does not have the money and would have to download on market vendors. She estimated it would represent a more than 25 per cent increase. It was noted merchants pay $400 per season – not the $300 previously quoted. An increase would bring that to $505.
Nash said an email will be going out to existing vendors this week to see if they would return under the proposed conditions.
“This is likely to drive away some of our smaller agricultural vendors. Farmers Market of Ontario requirements state to be designated as a farmers market you need to have half plus one of your vendors agricultural. Our numbers are pretty borderline… if we lose three vendors, our numbers will likely fall below that requirement and we wouldn’t be able to have a market anyway,” Nash said.
He maintained he doesn’t feel the association should have to pay, pointing to events such as the boat races, or Art in the Park, which are not charged.
Fearrey previously stated council will consider implementing fees for other events on a case-by-case basis. He noted many of the organizations that use the park make other contributions to the community, such as the boat races donating annually to Haliburton Highlands Health Services.
Nash said the farmers market also gives back. “We bring 15,000 people to town. We also provide financial support to good causes – we’ve given about $5,000 to Places for People over the years.
“It seems they just want to get money to use that site. OK, I get that, but let’s be honest about it. It’s not really about damages, because we don’t have any evidence of damages. This seems totally discretionary. It seems like there’s [an agenda] against us.”
Nash said the board will likely have an answer by next week as to whether vendors are willing to absorb the cost. If not, they will be going back to council. Fearrey indicated the township was open to further negotiation.
“If you shed light on something that changes our mind, we may change our mind… we can have another discussion,” Fearrey said.
