SMOOTH MOVE
Group gets $1M to renovate former home of Smooth Herman’s
Cape Breton Farmers’ Market moving to former Smooth Herman’s.
The Cape Breton Farmers’ Market is moving to downtown Sydney.
The largest bazaar of its kind on the island is expected to move inside a former Sydney cabaret this fall.
Sydney-Victoria MP Mark Eyking announced a $985,000 non-repayable contribution on behalf of the federal government to renovate the former Smooth Herman’s building on the Esplanade.
The farmers market has signed a 20-year lease of the space, which has been sitting vacant for roughly 10 years.
The upstairs portion of the building houses the Old Triangle Irish Alehouse operated by the market’s new landlords Phil Dubinsky and Dianne MacPhee.
Market manager Pauline Singer said finding the proper location for the not-for-profit co-operative has taken nearly a decade.
She said the renovation will create two-levels separating craft and food vendors.
The space will be made more energy-efficient, therefore reducing the market’s operating costs.
It will also expand the operation from 6,400 square feet to just under 10,000 square feet.
Other features include proper ventilation, a bigger commercial kitchen and a larger area for musicians.
During its peak season, roughly 1,000 travel through the market on any given Saturday.
“This location just ticked all the boxes,” said Singer.
“We’re hoping that it will spin off to the rest of the business community downtown and give people a reason to go there.”
Singer said the current Keltic Drive location in Coxheath was only meant to be temporary but turned into an eight-year lease.
Organizers of the market say they simply outgrew the space.
“A lot of our vendors want to put on workshops and we don’t have the space to do it,” said Singer.
“This is going to increase the number of our vendors and we’ll have more of a variety.
“We have some of the best artisans on the island who come here to sell, but we don’t have a venue that reflects the quality of their work.”
Singer said the market space will also house its own storefront with non-perishable items available to customers.
Market vendor and former site manager Diane MacLean has been selling her homemade Ma’s Love natural bath products for almost eight years.
“There’s been so many hurdles we had to jump over and walls we came up against that today I feel like I was waiting for Santa Claus,” she said. “I was just thrilled.”
MacLean expects the new location will draw in many more people to the market space.
Millville farmer Tim Levangie, who runs Thyme for Ewe Farm with his wife Estelle, said he’s also looking forward to a newly renovated space.
“It’s great have a location downtown to be more central,” he said.
“We have our booth now, but it’s definitely not how we want it. We’re kind of limited by space.”
Work crews are expected to begin renovations inside the former bar next week. It is expected that vendors will begin selling out of the Esplande location by early October.
Cape Breton Farmers’ Market, the only year-round market on the island, is attended by more than 65 full-time and parttime vendors.