Windstorm tears through IgNite Night Market in southwest Edmonton, vendors scramble to recover

Vendors were left scrambling Friday after a windstorm swept through an outdoor market on Thursday night in southwest Edmonton.

The IgNite Night Market was setting up in the parking lot of Booster Juice Recreation Centre when a brief but intense thunderstorm moved through around 10:30 p.m. Vendors had set up their booths Thursday in preparation for the Friday opening, and many were forced to pivot after powerful wind hit the area. Weather Canada confirmed heavy wind tied to a thunderstorm moved through Edmonton that night, with some wind registered at 60 km/h.

Artisan Suzanne Boucher, who was in town from Hay River, N.W.T., to set up a booth for her handmade Indigenous jewelry pieces, said the damage was extensive. "I told my husband we need to go back and take what we can," she recalled of Thursday night's scramble.

When Boucher returned to the rec centre parking lot Friday, she found a mess of jumbled tent frames strewn throughout the grounds. "Those canopy tents, they didn't stand a chance," she said. She considered herself one of the lucky vendors because she'd retrieved some items Thursday night. Others left their booth items out and had to search through debris Friday morning to find their belongings.

Vendor Pasta Pantry posted photos on social media showing tents folded over and items toppled, undoing hours of preparation. The source does not specify the total estimated dollar value of property damage or the exact number of vendor booths affected.

IgNite Night Market organizers were credited with working through the night and morning to clean up and set up the event, which was set to run Friday through Sunday. As of Friday afternoon, the market remained on schedule to open.