LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – The continuous afternoon rains defused the supposed rousing start of the dry run of the local government’s own version of the night market over the past several days but local officials are still optimistic on the upcoming success of the said endeavour.
Mayor Romeo K. Salda said that more than 100 night market vendors were already given the green light to participate in the dry run of the night market which started last November 3, 2019 and will end on December 3, 2019.
The town’s night market venue is at the parking area along Km. 5 which is considered to be a strategic area being located right at the heat of the municipality’s commercial center.
“We hope that the weather condition will improve in the coming days so that our night market vendors will be able to sustain the conduct of the nightly activity to add up to the promotion of La Trinidad as an alternative destination at night,” Mayor Salda stressed.
He explained that the full blast operation of the night market might be next year considering that there is a pending proposal to conduct a Yuletide trade fair which is now pending before the municipal council.
According to him, the current venue of the night market could accommodate over 140 vendors at one time that is why there are still vacant spaces that can still be offered to interested residents of the municipality wanting to participate in the night market.
Earlier, the municipal council approved the night market ordinance that opened up the Km. 5 parking area for the said nightly activity to interested residents of the locality to help them market their desired products and promote the local tourism industry.
Under the existing policies for the night market experiment, accredited vendors will be allowed to sell their products in the night market area from 7:30 pm to 2 am, Mondays to Sundays, after having settled with the municipal treasurer the P50 daily regulatory fee.
The local chief executive claimed that the town’s night market is not intended to compete with the existing night market in nearby Baguio city but it is geared towards providing a nightly activity in the locality that will entice residents and tourists to keep themselves busy at night.
The municipal mayor underscored that the dry run will serve as a period for the concerned offices of the local government to assess and evaluate the strong and weak points of the nightly activity so that appropriate adjustments will be introduced and implemented once the said event will be allowed to go on full operation by the start of next year.
Initially, observers raised that there is a need for the local government to improve the lighting of the perimeter of the night market area aside from the provision of added facilities for health and sanitation for both the vendors and the night market goers.
Vehicles parking in the parking area have been advised to leave the place a few hours before the operation of the night market so that the accredited vendors will be able to set up their stalls for them to be able to sell their products to the people wanting to patronize the town’s night market.
By HENT