Stalls at the Cape Coral Farmer’s Market destroyed by Ida’s outer ribbons

CAPORAL

When Hurricane Ida passed over southwest Florida on Saturday, it still left some damage.

More than 60 stalls at the Cape Coral Farmer’s Market were destroyed. Some business owners say this is the worst damage they have ever seen.

While vendors have managed to clean up some of what the outer bands of Hurricane Ida left behind, all of the chaos is far from cleared. What started out as a beautiful day quickly turned ugly.

Michael Wallace is with Pine Island Botanicals. “It was like, oh, yeah, we have a weather situation ahead,” said Wallace.

Claudia St. Onge is a business economist and works for the Cape Coral Chamber of Commerce. “The sky turned pitch black. And within minutes that rain was coming sideways. And wind hurts a market, not rain, ”said St. Onge.

St. Onge has been the Chamber of Commerce’s businesswoman for 25 years but says she has never seen anything like it. “Nothing like that. Nothing like that, ”she said.

According to St. Onge, nearly 60 vendors had their stalls and everything from their small business they bring to the Cape Coral Farmer’s Market destroyed on Saturday.

Elizabeth Coquillard is at Southwest Florida Produce. “” It literally came in and out of the market in four minutes. And it was destroyed, ”said Coquillard.

Coquillard says Southwest Florida Produce has been at the Cape Coral Farmer’s Market every Saturday for 20 years. And like St. Onge, she’s never seen so much damage. You and another seller agree that repairs are expensive.

“People literally lost hundreds of dollars on the product,” Wallace said.

“We just have to all get together as a community and hopefully get them new tents and new tables and put them back up next week,” Coquillard said. “S.o They don’t just lose their entire business. “

With sufficient support, there is hope that those whose small businesses have been destroyed can recover.

St. Onge says the plan is to restart the farmers’ market next Saturday, even if that means fewer sellers. They say that since the community has supported them for 25 years, they can do the same.

See similar https://www.winknews.com/2021/08/29/booths-at-cape-coral-farmers-market-destroyed-by-idas-outer-bands/

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