Free parking at Edmonton’s Old Strathcona Farmers’ Market to end

This Saturday will be the last time you can park for free across the street from Edmonton’s Old Strathcona Farmers’ Market.

Some shoppers told CityNews that this change might make them rethink their weekly grocery trips to the market.

“Sometimes when it’s really cold out, we can’t walk this far — so that’ll be a shame. I’ll probably stop coming then,” said one local.

Some Edmontonians near the Old Strathcona Farmers’ Market, near Whyte Ave, say they’re not happy about having to pay for parking soon. Currently, the parking lot across the street from the market allows free two-hour parking on Saturdays when the market is open, but that will end on April 6th, when the City of Edmonton takes over the lease on the lot.

The city will be charging $2.50 per hour to park.

“It’s only open for a short period — just five hours on Saturday — so it’s the least they can do,” said another local.

Organizers at the Old Strathcona Farmers’ Market say they’ve been getting an earful from folks upset about paid parking but want customers to know they’ll have staff in the parking lot to assist shoppers during the transition to the city’s online-only payment system.

“We will have people in the parking lot for the first few weeks or longer, if needed, to help those who can’t pay for parking with their phones,” said Micaela Szpigiel, communications coordinator at Old Strathcona Farmers’ Market. “We’ll have iPads available to help folks pay for parking.”

However, while you’ll have to pay to park, this week Edmonton City Council agreed to explore how the revenue from this lot can be directly invested back into the neighborhood — in things like sidewalk and bench upgrades, as well as neighborhood beautification.

“Now that the city has this lot — and it will be a lot for a very long time — there are plans in the future to see change in the area, but that’s going to take a very long time,” said Michael Janz, councillor for Ward Papastew. “In the meantime, while the city is collecting revenue, it should benefit the area from which it’s collected.”

The Farmers’ Market and the Old Strathcona Business Association hope they will be included in future plans for the lot. The business association celebrates city council’s decision to keep the revenue in the neighborhood.

“For over 30 years, the revenue generated from that parking lot has, in some way, stayed in the Old Strathcona community, and we feel it’s important for that revenue to continue to stay in the community, rather than contributing to the city’s general reserves,” said Cherie Klassen, executive director of the Old Strathcona Business Association. “This parking lot, long-term, is supposed to become a park, so we’re hoping it will be both a park and parking, because we will be here for another 25 years. We hope we can offer an abundance of parking for our customers,” said Szpigiel.