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198th DTES Street Market at Pigeon Park in Vancouver Downtown Eastside (DTES) on Sun Mar 23, 2014
198th DTES Street Market and 12th Street Market of 2014
Roland Clarke, Coordinator of the DTES Street Market says:
This was great weather all day, and the number of vendors reflected this… over 200 counted at noon.
We had a number of incidents during the day. One man was passed out and possibly overdosed, ambulance was called and he was fine in the end.
A great sign of the summer, the 50/50 raffle was a near record.
We had two special guests at the market – Maggie Geiser and Carolyn Lair.
Also, for the first time, we brought out the gas pressure washer at the end of the day and cleaned the park before the garbage truck came. The park was completely free of vendors at 7pm.
197th DTES Street Market at Pigeon Park in Vancouver Downtown Eastside (DTES) on Sun Mar 16, 2014
197th DTES Street Market and 11th Street Market of 2014
Roland Clarke, Coordinator of the DTES Street Market says:The 197th Street Market at Pigeon Park on Sunday
Our 200th market day celebration will take place in only three more Sunday’s!!!
Light rain throughout the day, but not enough to chase away the vendors and the buyers.
Once again, we had access to power at Pigeon Park, and we had 10-12 people come and test their items throughout the day.
We also had two porta potties again at the park, and about 114 people used our bathrooms between 10am and 4pm.
We are beginning the conversation of how to improve operations if given just a little more money. If we had just two more people in the morning, a more extensive fence system could be set up that would control the area in terms of ingress and egress.
There are only 5 entrances and exits to the park at present. Our goal would be to put up enough fencing so that these areas are only 5-10 feet wide at the most. Then, guards could be posted at the five points and given clickers to count the people coming in and out. If someone was coming in with a large backpack or a shopping cart, they could be stopped and other volunteers could help them find a spot. This could serve as the beginning of a vendor check in system, and could improve the order of the market quite a bit.
In order to do this, we would need 2 more positions in the morning, paid $10 each, and then two shifts of 5 sentry positions paid a little more than the normal guards, at $15 each. This would total $170 of additional funds to pull this off. Over a year, this would amount to an additional $8,000 or so.
DNC – Downtown Eastside Neighbourhood Council , Co-Chairs of DTES LAPP present to Vancouver City Council
Richard Cunningham, Roland Clarke and Jacek Lorek of DNC – Downtown Eastside Neighbourhood Council , Co-Chairs of DTES LAPP present to Vancouver City Council
196th DTES Street Market at Pigeon Park in Vancouver Downtown Eastside (DTES) on Sun Mar 9, 2014
196th DTES Street Market and 10th Street Market of 2014
Roland Clarke, Coordinator of the DTES Street Market says:
It was a good day. Not much sun, but no rain. This is the break, we were all saying, the break in the bleak rainy season of our home here in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver.
A few incidents of note need mentioning.
A random person was pepper sprayed, and the ambulance came to treat him.
A small fight broke out among the drinkers area, and the police came to break that up.
People flocked from miles around to see the people’s market, the DTES Street Market, on a nice Sunday afternoon.
We are slowly adjusting our operations, and now have access to the power at Pigeon Park. Almost 20 people came up to our table to test various devices – laptops, mixers, lights, and chargers. The power is very appreciated.
We had a little trouble clearing the park at the end of the day, and a few belligerent stragglers were there at 6pm when the garbage truck came.
The addition of power will mean that we can pull out the pressure washers at 5:30 and make sure the park is squeaky clean at the end of the day.
The 196th Street Market at Pigeon Park on Sunday.
195th DTES Street Market at Pigeon Park in Vancouver Downtown Eastside (DTES) on Sun Mar 2, 2014
195th DTES Street Market and 9th Street Market of 2014
Roland Clarke, Coordinator of the DTES Street Market says:
This was the 195th market at Pigeon Park on Sunday, and it was a snowy and rainy one.
The morning was cold with snow flurries until the late morning. Around noon, the temperature warmed into the typical rainy Vancouver winter day.
We had over 20 tents to put up – thanks to our funder the Central City Foundation – and saved what would have normally been a disastrous day.
Lots of information was given out at the main tent. We had three new potential DNC board members sign the nomination forms.
We also had a guest group – ALIVE – Aboriginal Life in Vancouver Enhancement – giving our information and signing up new members. Our hope is that ALIVE will set up its own tent in the spring and maintain a permanent presence at the market.
There were just a few minor incidents of note.
In the morning, the VPD came and confiscated a huge bottle of vodka from the drinkers. This put a damper on their party and made them much easier to manage throughout the day.
A sign of more good things to come?
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