Sketches of the new Rutland Community Market were revealed to council last year.
Image Credit: Contributed
May 15, 2015 - 8:32 AM
KELOWNA – The long-running and popular Rutland Flea Market isn’t going anywhere, but things are going to change, and soon.
Rutland Park Society spokesperson Laurel D’Andrea says the flea market will be included in the new Rutland Community Market planned to launch at Roxby Park the end of this month.
“Basically it’s going to be the best of everything,” she says. “It’s going to have flea market vendors, it’s going to have crafters and it’s going to have a farmers' market.”
The project was initially approved in in the summer of 2014 when Kelowna council agreed to let residents vote on how to spend $100,000. Residents chose enhancements to Roxby Park and a new market, so the Park Society decided to do both.
“We’ll have room for about 69 vendors there and we’ll still use the Rutland Centennial Hall inside because we still have some vendors who like to be indoors.”
The city originally invested $100,000 but D’Andrea convinced the Uptown Rutland Business Association board to kick in $36,000.
“We’ve got these really cool metal trees going in and the city gave us a budget for some basic twinkling lights but that wasn’t good enough for me,” she says. “We’ve got some fabulous LED lights that change colours so whatever time of year or whatever event we’re doing we can change the look and add a little more ambiance. It’s going to look great.”
The Rutland Community Market will be open every Sunday from 8 a.m. until 1 p.m.
Although it will open to the public for the first time on May 31, the official grand opening will take place two weeks later.
“We’ve got lots of really cool things happening in Rutland,” D’Andrea says. “We hope people come and check it out.”
To contact the reporter for this story, email Adam Proskiw at aproskiw@infonews.ca or call 250-718-0428. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.
News from © iNFOnews, 2015