Squamish is an exciting and busy place to be in the summer, but Sundays are a little quiet downtown.
The Squamish Street Market might just change that. The new monthly event will spread out over three blocks and two parks in Squamish’s downtown core four Sundays, from June to September.
Event organizer with BP Communications, Bianca Peters, is organizing the markets slated for Cleveland Avenue.
She told The Chief she had been talking to a lot of business owners downtown and hotel managers and was hearing that there was a gap in downtown traffic on Sundays.
“From Monday to Friday you have people who live in the community doing their thing downtown and then they are gone on the weekends. Then on Saturdays you have people who are commuting who do their thing downtown, but on Sunday, people come in from out of town and drive downtown and they say, ‘What is going on? There is nothing to do here,’” Peters said.
In early December Peters did a survey of businesses downtown and out of 53 businesses on two city blocks, only 17 were open on that Sunday.
Those 17 businesses liked the idea of a Sunday market, Peters said.
The events will include up to 50 vendors who will sell their wares and up to 10 food trucks will fill hungry bellies.
Children can check out the Kid Zone and join their parents to dance to musical acts.
Adults can sip a cold brew at the locally sponsored craft beer garden.
A Taste of Squamish Theme Park will showcase the best of Squamish’s craft breweries.
Throw in a real estate and development showcase and you have a day chalk full of things to do.
Tourism Squamish board members have endorsed the markets.
“Squamish is world renowned for its abundant opportunities in outdoor recreation and natural beauty. However, we need to develop our arts and culture scene,” said Lesley Weeks, executive director of Tourism Squamish in a news release. “We support the Squamish Street Market as an initiative to create a more robust experience for visitors: from the adrenaline driven to the culturally and culinary inclined.”
The first Squamish Street Market will kick off on Sunday, June 17, at 8 a.m. with a Lions Pancake Breakfast at Cleveland Avenue and Victoria Street. Other markets are set to run Sunday, July 15, Aug. 12 and Sept. 16.
The event is still accepting registration for vendors, food tricks and sponsors. For more information or to register, to go
www.squamishstreetmarket.com.
