At a meeting Monday, a 4-2 vote meant the township will no longer be paying for the market's Saturday morning rental of the fairgrounds' pavilion. A request had been made in the amount of $1,144, or $57.20 per week for 20 weeks.

About $3,370 of an allotted $12,500 is still in the budget for corporate sponsorship.

Township treasurer Stephanie Nagel said reasons for the denial included the fact that community groups applying need to be non-profit in nature. The market does not prepare financial statements, and only a handwritten account of bank transactions was supplied, she said. A request for an official mandate was also not available.

Ald. Sue-Ellen Merrit said if the market was going to submit handwritten notes and statements, why make an exception? "That's apathy on someone's part," she said. "They need to provide the same documents as everybody else."

Ald. John Glazier and Ald. Doug Joyner were the only ones in favour of forwarding the issue to the next administration meeting,

"We've done this for three years," said Glazier. "We've bent the rules to get them up and running."

But Mayor Katie Trombetta said she had concerns with that, as they are talking about taxpayers' money.

"If hypothetically (the market) does not exist by midseason because there are no more vendors, then what?" she said. "I hope they can get 20 vendors, but they could dwindle off."

Her comments came after Ald. Glazier said a Saturday visit to the market only saw five vendors under the pavilion.

"I was surprised at how little quantity there was," he said. "It's just gone downhill completely. I was appalled at how it was doing."

Ald. Norm Johnson reminded Glazier that there are certain times of the season that are slow, and others when the market is bustling.

"It's tough to make a decision on a couple of weeks," he said.

The decision was news to market steering committee chair, Albert Witteveen, Wednesday.

"That should be a new challenge for me," said Witteveen. "As if I hadn't had enough already trying to entice vendors, so this should really make my job nearly impossible."

"I was reassured that there was funds that were allocated, so that's not the issue," he said.

In response to Ald. Glazier's assessment of recent market activity, Witteveen said there was actually seven vendors in total, and that it was a very successful market day, with a good level of traffic.

"May and early June are always a challenge," he said. "But that happens in every market. The negative support for our market has made it difficult for new vendors to join the market," he added.

Negative comments from council regarding the farmers' market haven't encouraged any success, said Witteveen.

"We're not being supported by the leaders of our community."

He said the market is currently "holding its own," and vendors are committed to being there for the loyal consumer.

None of the aldermen spoke to him before the decision, Witteveen added.