The operations manager of the Antigonish Farmers Market says everyone’s happy to be in their new building, following a months-long a delay from COVID-19.
Lee Daponte says construction, which started in October 2019, was scheduled to be completed and the new building open in May.
Daponte tells The Hawk they didn’t open until August 1.
“Of course, with COVID there were delays, they had to cut back on crews going into the building, the trades and whatnot,” he says. “So, it ended up delaying things.”
Daponte says they aren’t at full capacity yet.
He says only half of their almost 90 vendors are allowed at the market because of COVID-19 public health restrictions.
“That was a disappointing part,” he says. “We were all looking forward to a big grand opening with all our vendors, some of our vendors have been around for 25+ years.”
Daponte says, despite that, there’s plenty of people coming out.
He says the final cost of the new Antigonish Farmers Market building is $1.6 million.
