The Canada Day long weekend is around the corner and many Maritimers are gearing up for events across the region, but there’s some confusion in Saint John over an annual market that has been a long-standing tradition in the city.
A Canada Day flea market has been held on King Street for the past 26 years but this year it isn't on the itinerary.
“We’re all lined up around King Square and everything and as far as I knew, it was Canada Day,” says vendor Jodi Frayme.
Frayme has been planning to set up for the King Street market since she attended the event last year.
"I haven’t heard any different, so I’ll have to find out. I have to partake. It’s one of the best days!”
The confusion over the annual market seems to have been prompted by what’s being called an “enforcement issue.”
Joe Boyce, the organizer of the market, says it fell under a special permit for the past 26 years, but the bylaws have since changed.
"In 2005, apparently there were new bylaws which we were unaware of, and no one ever picked it up,” says Boyce. “Anybody who walked by, we were always invited by the city, invited by the Canada Day Committee."
Under the new bylaw, the number of vendors who normally set up at the market exceeds the safety limit on the street.
As a result, Boyce has decided to move the market to the city’s Exhibition Park on June 30 in hopes of accommodating everyone.
Boyce says he hopes the changes won’t impact attendance, but vendors aren’t sure.
“The first year is always difficult because you’re always going to have people coming in and stumbling upon it,” says vendor Mary Powers. “People will get frustrated looking for it and won’t be able to find it and won’t come back next year maybe.”
“Canada Day is the day. That’s the day everyone will think it’s happening, so I can’t see it being busy the day before,” says Frayme.
But Boyce is looking on the bright side, saying the new location will allow the market to be open come rain or shine.
With files from CTV Atlantic's Ashley Dunbar
