The Saskatoon Farmers' Market has cancelled all five weddings it had booked for 2018 and is not booking any others in the future.
The interim operations manager, Lorna Shaw-Lennox, said a number of issues led to the decision. Some of the permanent vendor booths, located around the perimeter of the main hall, had been damaged or had items stolen during weddings; hiring extra security and paying a staff member to be on-site was becoming costly; and nearby condominium residents had made noise complaints, she said.
“It creates a lot of noise. There's wedding noise, dancing, having fun — you can't help it. And there's also the clearing up that causes all the noise too — all the tables moving in and out," Shaw-Lennox said.
The Saskatoon Police Service says it has received two noise complaints about the farmers' market in the last year.
Shawn-Lennox said the blocks nearby the market have recently become more residential. A condo development now sits across the street from the main hall of the market, and Shawn-Lennox notes the market has to "accommodate what's happening in south downtown and make it work."
The market needs a new business model to figure out the most appropriate events for its location and size, she said.
"It was a really nice place for weddings, so it's unfortunate. I don't know what the future holds. I don't know if it will be feasible in the future or if we can figure something out, but there's some work to be done before we can do that."
The board of directors for the Saskatoon Farmers' Market is in the process of hiring a new operations manager.
