Orange City embraces Moose Market

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Orange City embraces Moose Market
IMAGE COURTESY CITY OF ORANGE CITY

With positive public comments, little criticism, and a solid vote by the City Council, the popular Moose Market is on its way to becoming a permanent fixture in Orange City.

The farmers market, which opens Saturday mornings at the Arabella, also known as the Heritage Inn, at 300 S. Volusia Ave., has the go-ahead to continue operating for at least another five months, and then perhaps permanently.

“There were no reports from the police or the fire departments of any issues,” Assistant City Manager Christine Davis told the City Council Dec. 12.

Beginning Sept. 30, the Moose Market — organized and promoted by City Council Member Kellianne Marks, who has an event-setting business — has operated on Saturdays when no special events such as parades were scheduled. The three-month trial proved to be successful, and both vendors and shoppers spoke in favor of continuing it for at least five more months. The city’s renewed permit for the Moose Market ends May 25, 2024.

“It’s like another trial period,” Marks said.

After the next trial period ends, Marks said the council will probably allow the market to operate as it does now.

Patrons of the Moose Market urged the City Council to keep it.

“I would like to express my support for the local Moose Market to continue indefinitely,” one speaker told the council during the public-comment period. “It provides income for vendors and products for families. … It’s an educational and a community-building event.”

“This is good for the city. People enjoy it,” another speaker said.

“The location, I think, is perfect,” Susan McCabe said. “Adding the market to our community keeps the community alive.”

Davis herself said she had visited the Moose Market and saw an out-of-town shopper. “There was Mayor [Karen] Chasez of DeBary shopping at the Moose Market,” Davis noted.

The only negative review of the Moose Market came from Rhonda Miller, who identified herself as the administrator of the Moose Lodge in Orange City. Miller said Marks, while the market operated on the lodge’s property at 1081 N. Volusia Ave., had promised to “donate a percentage of the proceeds” to the lodge.

“She said she wasn’t giving anything and not to call her again,” Miller told the City Council.

Marks said the Moose Market name was not something new to Orange City.

“The Moose Market name originated in Ormond Beach, not Orange City,” she told the council and the audience, adding she had lived in Ormond Beach before moving to Orange City.

One issue that drew the attention of the council was parking. The revised permit for the Moose Market prohibits parking in the grassy areas of the event’s grounds.

The permit also limits the number of Moose Market’s vendors to 30.

“We’ve been running between 10 and 12,” Marks told The Beacon.

The positive feedback about the market and the absence of problems surrounding it prompted Mayor Gary Blair to change his mind about the weekly attraction.

“I was opposed to this originally, but I have found my concerns did not come to fruition,” he said.

Blair lives close to the Arabella and the market, and he had expressed fears the event would cause noise to him and his neighbors. While voicing support for the Moose Market, the mayor did have a few words for his critics.

“I don’t appreciate it when I get beat up on social-media sites,” he said. “I will support it, because it was well done.”

The Orange City Council voted 6-0 in favor of extending Marks’ permit for the market. On the advice of City Attorney William Reischmann, however, Marks abstained from voting because of a possible conflict of interest.

Marks later said she plans to give the Moose Market a seasonal pause after the May 25, 2024, date.

“We’re not going to hold it until September. It’s going to take a summer break. It’s too hot,” she concluded.

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