Hatters dance to the sounds of Gone Country at the final farmers market of the season in this October 2019 file photo.--NEWS FILE PHOTO
mcranker@medicinehatnews.com@mocranker
Despite having to push back the opening day due to COVID-19, Medicine Hat Exhibition and Stampede Farmers Markets have been well attended so far.
The markets have been running for a few weeks and are featuring everyone’s favourite local vendors.
“In our estimation, they’re going well,” said general manager Jim MacArthur. “We’ve been hearing a lot of positive comments from people.
“We’re trying to make them better every week.”
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Stampede has expanded the area that the markets are offered, spreading out vendors and allowing more room for walking.
“We know it might be a lot of walking for people, but allowing more distance was important to us,” said MacArthur. “The safety of the vendors and the patrons is our top priority.”
The Stampede is keeping track of how many people are at the market at all times, to ensure it doesn’t get too full.
“Our numbers have been impressive,” he said. “We had around 1,300 people for our first market and around 1,100 for our second. We anticipate the numbers will stay in that range.”
While markets usually start in May, this year kicked off on June 13.
“The positive with the late start is that there’s a lot of garden produce available right now,” said MacArthur. “I think we have a great mix of vendors right now.
“We’re very pleased with how things have gone so far.”
MacArthur added that the Wednesday evening markets that started last year are on hold indefinitely.
