By MARC LALONDE

marc.lalonde@transcontinental.ca

Better late than never.

The arrival of a public market in Pointe Claire Village two years after it was originally slated for arrival will make summertime a little brighter for Village-goers, West Island Conseil Local de Developpement (CLD) counsellor Alison Birss said.

"We finally got it up and running. It never really got up and running in 2005 after we had announced plans, but now we're pretty excited about it," she said.

The market has been occupied by farmers from Les Serres Tony Martino and Les Serres Jacques Wilson since it opened for business last Friday.

The project was spearheaded originally by the CLD, the Pointe Claire Village Merchants' Association and the Pointe Claire Curling Club and was designed to bring more traffic – both locals and tourists – to the Village area.

Birss said Curling Club owner Peter Laekas was the driving force behind the market's sudden appearance last weekend, Birss said.

With revenues down for some businesses in the Village, the market's opening could be the beginning of a revitalization of the western end of the historic area.

Pointe Claire mayor Bill McMurchie has said the city would like to extend the Village up Cartier Avenue, and the market's arrival may help do just that, Birss added.

Saturday morning, the market showed a brisk business as curious passers-by stopped in and perused the plants, flowers and soil available for sale.

Members of the Martino and Wilson clans unloaded plants, flowers and soil busily as parents of children covered in ice cream gazed thoughtfully at hanging plants and boxes of annuals.

The market will be open seven days a week through the summer, and fresh produce should start arriving in the early parts of June, Denise Martino said.

"It's going to be great. We used to be at the farmers' market in Dollard des Ormeaux, but we find there's more of a community feeling here," she said.

The Pointe Claire Village market is located in the south end of the Pointe Claire Curling Club parking lot at the foot of Cartier Avenue between Lakeshore Road and Lanthier Avenue.

It is open seven days a week