Demolition of main St. Jacobs Market building begins

A demolition crew has begun picking up charred and twisted pieces of rubble two weeks after a fire destroyed the St. Jacobs Farmers' Market main building on. Labour Day

Waterloo company Kieswetter Demolition has been contracted for the job, which should be completed by the end of the day Tuesday.

Nat Rocha, a supervisor with the company said there was a load of scrap metal left behind after the fire.

"We figure [there is] between 50 to 80 tonnes of metal," he said.  

Excavators on site were seen piling the metal into mounds to be recycled. 

Rocha said his crew recovered several pieces of equipment from the fire, including a chair and a bell, at the request of some of the 67 displaced vendors.

Salvageable support beams

Marcus Shantz, president of Mercedes Corp. which owns the St. Jacobs Farmers' Market, says some of the thick wooden support beams can be salvaged.

"Amazingly, a lot of the beams are still intact and I gather that they sand blast them and recover them," Shantz said.

"We've asked for a couple of the beams more as mementos, and we're not sure what we're going to do with them yet but we'll get a couple of them just to remember the building."

Shantz said the future of the site is beginning to take shape. 

"Plans are underway and we'll be letting the community know about it as they progress," he said.

The Ontario Fire Marshal is still investigating the cause of the fire. 

Officials estimate the fire caused $2 million in damage.