President-elect Karen opened the meeting. She thanked the In Vino Caritas committee for doing an exceptional job in the presentation of the event last Thursday.
Adrian De Coo introduced Marcus Shantz, a lawyer and President of the Mercedes Group. Marcus and his family have been involved in many Real Estate developments in Waterloo Region. He was present to explain the history on the Farmers’ market.
Marcus gave a brief history of the Mercedes Group and the work done by his father, Milo Shantz. Among the many Real Estate holdings owned by the Mercedes group is the St Jacobs Farmers Market. He remembered the day when he received an early morning call telling him that the Market building was on fire. He said that once the initial shock was over, he and the Board of Directors (members that we know are Murray Haase and Walter Hackborn) were making plans to rebuild. And the next market day was held on schedule with 300 vendors present.
He gave credit to Sheila Shantz for organizing the vendors into a temporary building and being prepared for the opening of the new building in June of this year. Macus thinks the new building may be called Produce Barn. We will wait and see. It will be larger (34,000 square feet) than the old building with room for more vendors and space for public.
This was a most informative presentation and of great interest to all.
