The Rainy Lake Market season has come to an end with the last day taking place on Thursday Sept. 24.
Christine McGoldrick, economic development officer intern at the Rainy River Future Development Corporation (RRFDC), said the market started off with three or four vendors before having 16 to 20 vendors when traffic picked up.
“I think with the amount of restriction that we had, we really did the best that we could,” McGoldrick said. “We made it as simple as we could, so I think we did very well on that side of things.”
McGoldrick said vendors in the market sold out faster than in previous years.
“Maybe because of COVID people were so happy to go somewhere and do something by supporting their local business,” McGoldrick said. “Many vendors did really well this year considering other years.”
There were also live music performances by Arden Bruyere and Victor Armit, something McGoldrick said attracted more people to the square.
During council meeting two weeks ago, Tannis Drysdale, consultant at RRFDC, said 2020 has been a year about planning and consultation in terms of economic development.
The Rainy Lake Market continued to operate during the summer mainly because it outdoors, allowing for physical distancing and sanitization procedures to take place.
“Thankfully, due to our eager vendors and the support from locals it has been a phenomenally successful summer regardless,” the report said. “The year started off modestly with only three vendors and now we regularly boast 18 vendors, occasionally having to turn vendors away because of spacing requirements.”
Drysdale said despite COVID-19, they worked with the health unit to find a way to open up the market. She added that the concern was based on the possibility that if they lost a vendor this year, they would lose them forever.
McGoldrick said RRFDC is working to expand the market by sustaining the relationship with the vendors so they can come in the future when the threat of COVID-19 no longer stands.
When the market opened, there were no COVID-19 restrictions in place. But then RRFDC had to monitor how people were coming in and going out to make sure they were safe and far enough from each other, McGoldrick said.
“We could limit the amount of people coming in as well. Now we require people to sanitize, we had a hand sanitizer station. Everybody coming in had to sanitize their hands,” McGoldrick said. “Because it is an outdoor public space, masks were not mandatory, but regardless most people were still wearing them and vendors as well.”
Setting up to sell items in the market was free, McGoldrick said, but vendors had to let RRFDC know in advance in order to know how many tables and tents are needed.
“We had all kinds of vendors coming in from places as far as Kenora, which is good to see,” McGoldrick said. “A lot of vendors said this actually turned out to be their best year so far.”
McGoldrick said although the Rainy Lake Market is over, some vendors such as A.G. Produce will be at the square for a few more weeks.
