The main market building at the St. Jacobs Farmers Market
burned down early Monday morning.
Four fire departments fought to keep the blaze from
spreading to the adjacent building which houses the livestock auction
facilities for the Ontario Livestock Exchange (OLEX), a restaurant and flea
market.
Lightning may be responsible for the fire that was spotted
at 1:45 a.m., by then breaking through the roof of the two-storey,
24,000-square-foot post-and-beam wooden structure.
The market, OLEX and adjacent factory outlet mall and land
for other retail and hotel buildings was developed by Mercedes Corporation
controlled by the late Milo Shantz. He also owned much of downtown St. Jacobs.
The St. Jacobs Farmers Market is the largest in Southwestern
Ontario, attracting produce, bakery and meat vendors from local farms and
vendors who bought both at the Ontario Food Terminal in Toronto and the
Mennonite produce auction at Elmira.
About 60 businesses are affected by the fire.
It is a major tourist attraction, including bus tours from
China and Europe.
