NEW LIFE FOR AN OLD MARKET
Every Saturday morning, the old market on Harbor Street in Port Ellis is full of noise and color. People fill their bags with fresh bread, fish and fruit, and children stop to listen to street musicians. Ten years ago, however, the market was a sad place. Most of the stalls* were closed, the floor was dirty, and very few shoppers came each week.(lines 1–7)
The market first opened about 120 years ago. Farmers from nearby villages asked the town for a market, because they wanted to sell their food in one place instead of going from door to door. The town gave them a square near the port, and business was good for years. Then, in the 1990s, two large supermarkets opened at the edge of town. Shoppers could park there easily, so they stopped coming to Harbor Street. One by one, the farmers left the market, because they could not sell enough to earn a living.(lines 8–13)
In 2016, a group of young chefs from Port Ellis decided to save the market. They did not have much money, so they did most of the work themselves. First, they cleaned the square and painted the old stalls in bright colors. Then they opened a small kitchen in the middle of the market, where they cooked simple, cheap meals from the farmers' fresh food.(lines 14–17)
The plan worked. Shoppers began to return, first for the meals and then for the food. Today, more than forty farmers sell at the market again. Some are the children of farmers who left in the 1990s. "People here missed the market more than they knew," said Maria Costa, one of the chefs. "Next year, we want to open a cooking school for teenagers in one of the empty buildings near the square."(lines 18–22)