NANAIMO — Thousands of dollars worth of stolen equipment has volunteers with the Cedar Farmers’ Market scrambling to stage their large and popular weekly offering.

Market manager Kate Poirier said a metal grinder was used to break off the locks to their storage shed on the field behind the former Woodbank Elementary School site on Morland Rd.

The damaging theft happened sometime between the June 26 market and the morning of July 3 when market volunteers went to start setting up their most recent market.

“For not-for-profits like ours, we have a lot of volunteer hours, we run really tight budgets, so the amount of time it’s going to take to build back to what we have…we probably won’t be back to that until the fall,” Poirier told NanaimoNewsNOW.

Items taken include specialized dollies used for setting up and taking down the market and power supply equipment required for food trucks and food storage containers.

First aid kits, outdoor extension cords, speakers and garbage bags were also stolen.

“It definitely appears like it was a targeted theft of someone who knew what kind of equipment we would have in there,” Poirer said. “All the items seemed a lot more valuable to us than they would be for anyone buying the items, it seems like a lot of work for very little profit.”

Poirier said programs like their nutrition coupons to help feed low-income families will have to be put on hold for the moment in order to deal with the fallout of the theft.

However, community members have already stepped up to help with a Parksville company lending the necessary electrical equipment for the foreseeable future in order to keep the market going this summer.

A local crane company offered to move their storage container to a more visible location.

“There’s a lot of people reaching out to help which is really heartwarming. It’s really frustrating, because I have a lot of other projects going on right now in the middle of the busiest time of the year for us, and instead all week we’re going to be working on dealing with the police and trying to borrow equipment. The impact on small businesses is just so frustrating.”

Poirier said upgrades on a nearby school had lots of construction activity going on in the area recently, which is why the sound of the locks being grinded off may have gone unnoticed.

The money for the critical equipment required to properly set up the market was originally provided earlier this year thanks to a provincial grant.

Poirier said despite this setback, they are still going ahead with their July 10 market, and will keep on their regular schedule of markets until Halloween.

“We’ve been there for four years now, the past six weeks of set-up have been a dream. It’s been so smooth, I have everything I need, the team is just a well-oiled machine, and yesterday (Sunday) it was ground to a halt. Everything is gone, it’s just so frustrating.”

The Cedar Farmers’ Market supports roughly 100 farmers, artists and specialty foods producers which generates large weekly crowds seasonally every Sunday.

The theft was reported to the RCMP.

A GoFundMe account has been set up the help support the market.

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