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Trade show open to more food vendors

People going to the Lake Laberge Lions Yukon Trade Show can again gorge on carnival-style goodies.After getting the boot last year, due to an…

People going to the Lake Laberge Lions Yukon Trade Show can again gorge on carnival-style goodies.

After getting the boot last year, due to an exclusivity clause in Canada Games Centre lease agreements, trade show food vendors are again free to hawk their wares, said Bob Downey, a Lions Club director.

“That’s all been straightened away this year.

“We can sell food there now.”

Last year, the owners of the Midnight Sun Coffee Roasters, Zola Dore, and Subway officials blocked the vendors.

Dore and Subway cited section nine of their lease agreements, which gives them the sole rights to sell food at the Canada Games Centre.

As a result, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, Paddlers Abreast and the Kiwanis Club were blocked from selling food.

The move led to some considerable angst in the city’s non-profit community.

Some trade show vendors served food anyway, “giving” it away and accepting “donations” in return.

The Lions Club learned earlier this week that Dore and Subway had yielded.

“There was enough public outcry last year I think that those two businesses don’t want to have the same problems,” said Downey.

“I guess they just found that people were boycotting them and just not going to them.”

Hopefully, everyone selling food at the May 2008 trade show can make money, he added.

The city approached Dore and Subway earlier this month about trade show food vendors and got the nod, said Linda Rapp, the city’s Parks and Recreation manager.

“They indicated they did not wish to exercise their exclusivity rights and they hoped the club would be respectful of their right to do so in selecting vendors that they choose to have participate in the trade show.

“I think it’s very big of them.”

Both businesses could have legally exercised their rights under the lease agreements, but chose not to, she added.

Both businesses pay tens of thousands of dollars a year in lease fees to the municipal government, according to the city.

Subway’s lease is for 10 years and it pays $10,000 for the first five years of its agreement and $24,000 for the last five.

The Midnight Sun pays $26,000 for the first three years of its lease, $28,0000 for years four and five, and $30,000 for years six to 10.

Both businesses are still within the first three years of their lease.

Hopefully, vendors at the Lions Club trade show will keep in mind the kindness shown by the Midnight Sun and Subway, said Rapp.

“We would hope the club would be respectful of what they’re selling.”

Dore and Subway officials could not be reached for comment.