[Halifax] Seaport Farmers' Market | - | - | Complete

[HRM]

A great deal of the parking in the foreground is the Westin parking lot and completely unrelated to the market/waterfront.

[DigitalNinja]

Ahh yes, I see that now. To bad they don't have underground parking. There is also a bit for the farmers market. They probably won't get rid of that at all.

[halifaxboyns]

Finally got around to uploading some of the pics I took on my last visit home.
Here are some from the farmers market.

[fenwick16]

The farmers market appears to be busy. Nice pictures, thanks for posting them.

Regarding this one below, does anyone know who to contact at NSPI to ask what the plans are for the unfinished concrete wall (will something be done to make it more presentable as the new Discovery Centre - or maybe someone could contact a representative at the Discovery Centre since they would probably know)?

(source: halifaxboyns)

[eastcoastal]

I don't think anyone knows yet. I heard they're now in the process of seeking proposals from architecture firms for the Discovery Centre. It's likely that decisions about cladding the concrete portion won't be made until the design work is underway.

Originally Posted by fenwick16

The farmers market appears to be busy. Nice pictures, thanks for posting them.

Regarding this one below, does anyone know who to contact at NSPI to ask what the plans are for the unfinished concrete wall (will something be done to make it more presentable as the new Discovery Centre - or maybe someone could contact a representative at the Discovery Centre since they would probably know)?

(source: halifaxboyns)

[Jonovision]

The green roof is growing really well.















This stuff was full of honey bees. Does anyone know if there is a bee hive up there somewhere?

[fenwick16]

This is an amazing green roof - thanks for posting the pictures.

[Jstaleness]

A quick shot of the lighting that I took tonight when I was there for the pumpkin festival.

[Keith P.]

Well, it looks like this white elephant is going to be euthanized:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-...rity-1.5867819

After more than ten years in its current home, the Halifax Seaport Farmers Market is getting ready to move.

By mid-March, vendors will clear out and some will take their stands a few hundred metres away to another Halifax Port Authority building: Pavilion 22 — a space that's typically used in the summer to usher in cruise-ship passengers.

Pavilion 22 didn't see any arrivals in 2020 because of the pandemic and the 2021 cruise season is still a question mark, but the port authority is hoping some ships will dock. So, in the summer months, the parking lot at the north end of the port will be converted into an open-air market.

"Really our goal here is to find a model that is sustainable," said Halifax Port Authority spokesperson Lane Farguson.

"Having a building of this size on the waterfront in Halifax and not being used to its full extent, five or even six days a week, depending — we just can't carry on like that," Farguson said.

...
In 2010, the farmers market left its traditional home in Brewery Square for the new state-of-the-art Seaport market. Some tenants remained at the Keiths market, which still operates.

The pandemic isn't the only reason for the changes that are afoot. Last February, before COVID-19 arrived in Nova Scotia, the port authority issued a call for someone to take over operational management of the market.

The port authority, which started managing the market in 2012, recognized the space was being underutilized and was struggling to boost business.

When the market was imagined more than a decade ago, it was as a bustling, seven-day-a-week operation. But that hasn't come to be. Weekends, at least before the pandemic, were busy, but customers have never flocked to the market on weekdays and only a fraction of vendors operate more than a day or two per week.

[atbw]

This always felt less like a market than a market themed tourist attraction. It completely catered to the cruise market at the expense of being a vibrant weekday market. Between the Brewery Market and other neighborhood operations, it didn’t fill a need that wasn’t better served by another location.

Mind you it is a nice building and was nice to have that space open to the public, but between the location being out of way on foot and catering to tourism vs. a local base, it’s not a surprising conclusion.

I am surprised they’re going with office space, though, as it was my understanding we had more office space than we knew what to do with.

[someone123]

Originally Posted by atbw

I am surprised they’re going with office space, though, as it was my understanding we had more office space than we knew what to do with.

It seems like the port authority has struggled a bit to find good uses for the seaport lands. If they had built more stuff down there, maybe it would have been easier to keep up activity levels without cruise passengers.

It's complicated by the industrial uses but then again there are apartments right up against the grain elevator.

[Haliguy]

I'm quite upset about this. I always enjoyed going there, and was a great public indoor venue for the city. It was always a thriving place on a Saturdays, and Sundays were quite busy. Its really too bad they couldn't have figured out a way to keep it going.

[Drybrain]

Originally Posted by atbw

Mind you it is a nice building and was nice to have that space open to the public, but between the location being out of way on foot and catering to tourism vs. a local base, it’s not a surprising conclusion.

I agree with that. At its most active and lively, it was a really special and wonderful place. But it was usually only like that once or twice a week. The waterfront location was great, but it also meant it was at the margins of where people actually lived.

I know a lot of people years ago talked about how a more central location, like the Armoury, might have drawn more people from all over, and I can't help but agree. Not every major public building in Halifax has to be on the waterfront.

[OldDartmouthMark]

Originally Posted by Haliguy

I'm quite upset about this. I always enjoyed going there, and was a great public indoor venue for the city. It was always a thriving place on a Saturdays, and Sundays were quite busy. Its really too bad they couldn't have figured out a way to keep it going.

I agree. It was nice to have the space open as a public venue as the waterfront is really the jewel of a coastal city such as ours. Switching it to office space will help to make the section of waterfront south of Bishop's landing less inviting to the public, unfortunately.

Hopefully the new iteration of the market will have success, but I can't imagine it will thrive like it did in this location, especially outdoors in bad weather. I guess we'll see. On the upside, it will probably drive more vendors back to the Keith's complex.

[Citizen_Bane]

I wonder if the rooftop patio will remain open to the public? It was/is a great place to take lunch and get some fresh air and sunshine.

Through the week the couple/few vendors on site were not nearly enough to attract any customers. My understanding is that most of the vendors have no interest in being on site during the week. We can assume but perhaps never know for sure if a fully occupied market during the week would have attracted enough customers to be viable.

I don't know why the market vendors would bother with the seaport parking lot idea. Wouldn't it make more sense to rent the forum or some such space with plenty of parking? No one can successfully argue that finding a street parking space anywhere near the market on a Saturday morning can be tough.

[atbw]

Originally Posted by OldDartmouthMark

I agree. It was nice to have the space open as a public venue as the waterfront is really the jewel of a coastal city such as ours. Switching it to office space will help to make the section of waterfront south of Bishop's landing less inviting to the public, unfortunately.

Hopefully the new iteration of the market will have success, but I can't imagine it will thrive like it did in this location, especially outdoors in bad weather. I guess we'll see. On the upside, it will probably drive more vendors back to the Keith's complex.

I think an outdoor market can do OK through the summer, but I agree that we'll likely see an influx of people to the Keith's space. Once I realized how much closer the Brewery market was, and that it was busy but not crowded, I really only went to the seaport if I was showing someone new to town around.

I can see the other side of this though, with office space comes increased traffic through to this area though the week and a bump in vibrancy that way.

[SouthPawLaw]

When is the Armoury decommissioning? That would make an ideal farmers market, the structure lends itself, and the annex across the lane allows for more space eventually too. It is also on one of Halifax landmarks and near in the middle of the peninsula.

[Good Baklava]

Originally Posted by SouthPawLaw

When is the Armoury decommissioning? That would make an ideal farmers market, the structure lends itself, and the annex across the lane allows for more space eventually too. It is also on one of Halifax landmarks and near in the middle of the peninsula.

Last I heard that building needed some remediation for high amounts of lead, maybe renovations will fix that.

I’m not sure what uses the building will serve in the future either. Others may know better than me.

[Dartguard]

Originally Posted by SouthPawLaw

When is the Armoury decommissioning? That would make an ideal farmers market, the structure lends itself, and the annex across the lane allows for more space eventually too. It is also on one of Halifax landmarks and near in the middle of the peninsula.

The Armoury is NOT decommissioning. Its National heritage designation has allowed pockets of Federal money to be unleashed to repair, replace and shore up the Sandstone original construction. The main door is being expanded as the Army's rolling stock has increased in size since the Armoury was designed in the 19th Century.

The Armoury is still the Regimental home of both the Halifax Rifles and Princess Louis Fusiliers. About 200-300 Reserves soldiers. The Officers Mess was moved to Royal Artillery Park after some ugly incidents with returning Afghanistan vets (non officers) and the old boys Officers that never volunteered for Afghanistan. The 1st Field Regiment (Artillery Pieces) moved to Bayers lake a number of years ago and the Service Regiment, Signals and the Medical unit are now in Windsor Park.

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by Drybrain

I agree with that. At its most active and lively, it was a really special and wonderful place. But it was usually only like that once or twice a week. The waterfront location was great, but it also meant it was at the margins of where people actually lived.

I know a lot of people years ago talked about how a more central location, like the Armoury, might have drawn more people from all over, and I can't help but agree. Not every major public building in Halifax has to be on the waterfront.

So, never seeing a bad situation they cannot make worse, the Port Authority is spending even more money on another change of venue for the market:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-...ntre-1.6387510

So Cunard Center as a venue for other things is apparently dead now. This strikes me as a desperate move. How much taxpayer cash has gone up in flames over the various market debacles?