WATCH: Early Wednesday morning the farmers market in Boutouche was destroyed by fire. It served as the main gathering point in the community and was Boutouche’s social centre. Global’s Alex Abdelwahab reports.
BOUCTOUCHE, N.B. – Police say the fire that destroyed the Bouctouche Farmers Market early Wednesday is suspicious.
The building went up in flames around 2:15 a.m. It’s considered the hub of the community.
“Pretty emotional. I’m lucky, but some of my friends have lost everything,” said vendor Jennifer Trivett.
Trivett began selling homemade soap at the market nine years ago. Her stall was mostly saved, but Micheline Girouard’s stand was not as lucky.
“I lost everything. Everything was engulfed in flames.”
“I make jewelry, that’s my craft and I was talking to one of the firemen and he said he could see lots of little earrings and bracelets, but nothing was salvageable. It’s all black and to pieces,” she said.
The market was open on Saturday mornings throughout the summer and hosted concerts Tuesday and Thursday evenings.
“It’s a place where people get together and they just talk,” said Mayor Aldéo Saulnier. “It’s a good reunion place so it’s a sad day, but we have to be optimistic that we’re going to, we will do something, we’ve already started work on something.”
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
“It started awful fast. It took me about two minutes, the other side of the bridge from here and it was engulfed in flames,” said Chief Ronald LeBlanc of the Bouctouche Fire Department.
Right now, firefighters believe the fire started in the back left corner of the fence surrounding the main buildings.
Police are asking anyone with information about it to contact them.
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