By GARRET JAROS/YachatsNews
WALDPORT – Efforts to find a vendor to run the Waldport Wednesday Market ran into a snag this week after it was determined the two applicants do not meet legal qualifications.
The two applications to operate the popular market, which begins in May and ends in September, came from the Crestview Heights Booster Club and Waldport Beachcomber Days.
The Beachcomber group had been operating the market since 2021, but the Waldport city council voted in December not to renew its contract over concern about the organization’s finances. That however, did not disqualify Beachcomber from applying to the city’s request for the 2025 market season.
At issue is Beachcomber and Crestview Heights 501c3 nonprofit status.
“Fundamentally, the (Internal Revenue Service) has a rule that unless you create a nonprofit specifically to run a market, and you have to have very specific goals and rules and objectives, that it is disallowed under any of the non-profit statuses,” said Waldport city manager Dann Cutter. “This is a decision entirely outside of the city’s hands.”
The city discovered the rule, which would have disqualified Beachcomber from running the market in the past, only after a recent legal review of the two applications. The city informed both groups of the finding and released a statement on its website Thursday.
“After careful review of the submissions and letters of intent regarding the Waldport Wednesday Market operations, it is the conclusion of city staff that the RFP (request for proposal) organizations responding to run the market do not meet the legal sufficiency for the city to proceed with the applicants,” the statement said. “IRS rules prevent either organization from doing so under their current incorporation regardless of any other considerations.
“As such, it will be the recommendation of staff at the next meeting that the market operations be assigned to a staff member, with the city being the fiscal agent for the market,” the statement concluded. “It is our intent that this staff member will solicit volunteers to assist in market operations for this upcoming year.”
In social media posts, the Beachcomber organization was already in the process of signing up vendors and collecting fees for the upcoming market season. The posts said the group’s first priority was to win approval to run the Wednesday market. But if it did not, the group said it would run a market elsewhere on Thursdays from May 8 to Sept. 25.
Beachcomber Days has twice tried to federally trademark the name Waldport Wednesday Market, the first time in December and again in January. Those attempts have so far been unsuccessful.
“A vendor can’t come in and respond to say running something and then claim ownership over it,” Cutter said. “So we will vigorously defend that trademark.”
The city and Waldport Chamber of Commerce created the Waldport Wednesday Market in 2001, the city said in its Thursday statement. It stopped operating for a few years in the middle of the decade, but in 2009 the market was reinstituted under city staff and used the community center’s parking lot. From 2009 until 2018 it was run by a city staff member. From 2018 to 2019 it was contracted to a private individual and then to the Beachcombers organization in 2020.
In 2024 the market had some 70 vendors and included everything from food and craft booths to musical performers. In the last two years it brought in about $15,000 to Beachcombers, according to financial records. The money covered the cost of market operations and to support Beachcomber Days’ other activities, Beachcomber secretary and past Wednesday Market manager TiAnne Rios told YachatsNews last year.
“Beachcombers has done a respectable job building a strong market,” Cutter said. “That isn’t to say it wasn’t a strong market before. But they have applied some pretty effective tools to get substantial market participation. And they should be commended for that.”
YachatsNews reached out to Rios for comment about the city’s recommendation to the city council to have staff run the market, but Rios said she was responding to a family emergency and that either she or Beachcomber Days’ president Tamara Abele would comment if possible.
The Waldport City Council will consider the staff recommendation at its 4 p.m. Thursday, March 13 meeting.
- Garret Jaros is YachatsNews’ full-time reporter and can be reached at GJaros@YachatsNews.com
I’m so glad I don’t live in this town. Commend them for doing a good job but take it away?
It seems clear that this is not the city’s fault. These groups by IRS rules need to be a 501c3 specifically created to run a market. I don’t understand why either group doesn’t do what the IRS requires.
or the city is misinterpreting or misstating the IRS rules or changing the city rules to obtain an outcome they wanted from the start — to take over the market. I’m not a 501c3 expert, but it seems odd.
If that is the case, then Toledo Chamber is running theirs illegally. No, this is a clear case of once again the city wanting control. There are so many markets run by nonprofit organizations. Actually according to at study done in 2006 about 88 percent were run by nonprofits.
It is not a clear case of the city wanting control. I just spent 10 minutes asking chatGPT a series of questions about what kind of nonprofits can run a farmer’s market, and it’s pretty clear the city is correct. To run a market, a 501c3 either must have been set up specifically for that purpose or must have a broader purpose that would encompass running a market, such as community welfare or promoting healthy food. Running an annual festival doesn’t cut it under the law.
They need to apply for a modification of their 501(c)3 status.
From what I read I believe that is doable. But I don’t know how long it takes.