Save Le Marché St. George!

Le Marché St George is a corner store, a café, a meeting place, and a home. It’s a husband, wife, and daughter, a sister, a best friend, an aunt, 3 chickens, 2 cats, a fish and 2 bee hives who all reside here. It's a place where everyone is welcome. It’s seeing the neighbourhood kids growing up together. It's love stories that have lead to happily-ever-afters. It’s where the mothers and fathers come to relax with their kids. It’s first dates and first babies. It's running groups and knitting groups, community vineyards, and mariachi bands. It's keeping spare keys to the neighbours houses, It’s honest people who work long hours. It’s a funky, handsome, all-crooked, old building where all of this is happening... and we want to keep it that way!

Unfortunately, due to outdated city bylaws defining what a "neighbourhood grocery store" is, we cannot be who we are and who we've been for the past 5 years. Help us change the City's mind and show them what these kinds of places mean to their neighbourhoods and communities.

The Petition

This Friday (on the 11th of December), City Officials will potentially restrict Le Marché St.George's outdoor and indoor seating and our ability to serve food. 

These restrictions would effectively close le Marché St.George because the business would not be able to generate enough revenues to stay open. The current by-laws encourage neighbourhood grocery stores to sell cigarettes, magazines, lotto tickets and junk food!

Help change these outdated by-laws by signing this petition. 
 

Dear City of Vancouver,

Please allow neighbourhood grocery stores, like Le Marché St.George, to have limited service food establishment licences, in order to succeed and serve the demands of their communities.

Respectfully,
Le Marché St.George

Día de los Muertos

Halloween is a massive affair throughout our entire neighbourhood. There is an alley near John street (it can be accessed on Prince Edward Avenue) that gets transformed into a Halloween Wonderland of sorts every single year. This is all completely organized by the community,  and they put out a different theme every year. This year's theme is Día de los Muertos, complete with those iconic skulls, various ofrandas, and a mariachi band.

Adults clutch their plastic cups of alcohol and children ran amuck in clusters, stopping only to admire their growing loot of candy. The mariachi band had the most adorable little critters dancing to their tunes while their parents clapped along in laughter. It was a beautiful night, and the rain held off... until about 9 or 10 pm, when it started to pour torrential rain.

With Halloween out of the way... it's time to start thinking about the holidays! But for today, we will hold on to these pumpkin colours just a wee bit longer.

Story and Photographs: Issha Marie