ORGANISERS of St. George's Market Night are hoping for a grand finale next week to a successful first season that they say has been achieved despite "zero help" from the Ministry of Tourism and the local Chamber of Commerce.

With the cruise ship season about to wind up, the last of the evening markets in King's Square will be held next Tuesday and vendors are hoping that next year the Government and business community will be more willing to get involved.

Ten business people got together to form the St. George's Market Group in the spring and since then Market Night has been running along similar lines to Hamilton's Harbour Nights.

"We took it over from the old Heritage Night and it's been very successful and we've had a good response from the cruise ship people," said Eugene Minors, of the Pier-Vu clothes and gift store on York Street, one of the driving forces behind the project.

"This has been done with zero help from the Ministry of Tourism and zero help from the Chamber of Commerce. I tried repeatedly to talk to the Minister (David Allen) and I even tried to arrange a meeting through another MP, but I never got to speak to him.

"When we started I think people were very sceptical and I think they thought it would fail. We contacted about 65 businesses and we got a response from three.

"We have been running on a skeleton budget, but we have managed to provide entertainment and we've had as many as 24 vendors in the square on a regular basis."

More support from other interested bodies could have enabled Market Night to have been a bigger success, added Mr. Minors, with scope for extra advertising and entertainment.

The Market Group had agreed that all the goods being sold should be Bermuda-made and that this had presented several craft vendors with an outlet they would not otherwise have had.

"Even if they only make $10, that's $10 they could not have made without this outlet," said Mr. Minors. "We've have very good feedback and some have told us they are just proud to be there as a craft person.

"This has given the people of St. George's something to do on a Tuesday night and it's been very well received. We hope people will make the effort to come out and support the last Market Night of the season." He added that the group intended to restart Market Night when next year's cruise ship season starts in April. And he hoped with the boost of more support from businesses and Government that the selling area could expand from the square to include a larger area of the Old Town.

Acting Tourism Minister Alex Scott was yesterday unavailable for comment.

The business people involved in promoting the initiative are Eugene and Sharon Minors, Lavern Smith, David and Jill Raine, Diana Amos, Terry Roberts, Andrea Roberts, Francine Burgess, Joy Outerbridge and Kersley Nannath.

The final Market Night of the season will take place next Tuesday, between 7 p.m. and 10 p.m.