The Red Deer Market’s first year at Red Deer Polytechnic has been a big success so far, says one of the weekly event’s managers.

Overall this is the 53rd season of the market, which was originally founded by Dennis Moffat and is now operated by his children Fiona and Patrick Moffat.

There’s about a month left in the season, as the final market of the year is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 7 on Thanksgiving weekend. The market season began May 20.

“It’s been a fun time. Coming into the year we were expecting the worst and we’ve got nothing but the best,” Patrick Moffat said on Saturday.

“We’ve been waiting for complaints, but haven’t received one. We checked on the West Park Facebook page the other day and only saw positive comments. All of the vendors and customers have been saying, ‘This is great.’”

This year’s market has had a stronger number of vendors and attendees than it had over the past few seasons at its previous location in the Servus Arena parking lot.

“It seems the number of customers has gone up significantly. Just taking a straw poll every week, we know it’s gone up in numbers. It’s more accessible, people find it easier to get here, the parking is better,” he said.

“The vendors love the location, especially the ones coming from out of town. It’s just off the highway and easy to get to – there’s no driving through the downtown.”

Moffat praised RDP for being a welcoming partner.

“The polytechnic has been so appreciative to us. They’ve done everything they can to make us feel welcome,” he said.

Moffat said it’s hard to believe there are only five more markets this season.

“It went by really quickly and – knock on wood – I don’t know if we’ve had better weather any other year. Through 53 years, I’m sure we’ve had some pretty good years, but the weather’s been fantastic and has helped cultivate the new original market of Red Deer.”

For more information on the Red Deer Market, visit www.reddeermarket.com.

sean.mcintosh@reddeeradvocate.com
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