A business arrangement between a coffee shop, a sandwich chain and the City of Whitehorse is preventing local service clubs from raising money for children and sick people.

Bob Downey, the Lake Laberge Lions Club trade show chair, said in an interview Monday afternoon that after booking the Canada Games Centre a year ago, he was told by city officials yesterday a major part of the event has had to be cancelled.

Downey said city officials left him a message at 3:30 p.m. Monday. The message stated that due to a contract with the Midnight Sun Coffee Roasters Inc. and the Subway Franchise Resaurants of Canada Ltd., the charitable food stalls planned for the facility's parking lot were out.

'We've had food vendors at the trade show for the past 26 years,' Downey said. 'Last year, we had food vendors outside the Canada Games Centre.

'I didn't know what to think. I don't feel well about this at all.'

The Lions club is paying $8,200 to rent the Olympic ice, the warm-up ice area and a piece of the parking lot. The contract itself was signed two weeks ago, he added.

The 28th annual trade show is set to run from Friday through and will include tourism, business, craft and government trade stalls.

Downey said the trade show has always been permitted to have food stalls when the trade show was held at the Mount McIntyre Recreation Centre and the Takhini Arena.

He said he can't understand why this year the Kiwanis Service Club, Mothers Against Drunk Driving and the Sisters Abreast a walking team set to raise money for breast cancer in Alberta are not allowed to operate.

'Big Brothers and Big Sisters were going to try to hand out information and sell ice cream,' Downey said.

'None of them are selling anything they sell inside.'

Kirsten MacDonald, team captain for the Yukon's Sisters Abreast team, said she has already purchased the food with her own money for the event. She was shocked to hear that plans to raise money for charity were cancelled.

MacDonald and her team members are set to participate in The Weekend to End Breast Cancer walk in Edmonton Aug. 10-12.

'I have a permit from environmental health,' she said. 'We're all raising money for kids and sick people and now we're hooped.

'The food is on the way, I can't eat 100 cobs of corn and 100 chicken kabobs myself.'

Stan Marinoske, the treasurer for the Kiwanis Club of Whitehorse, said members of his group are upset.

'It stinks greatly,' he told the Star this morning. 'We think it's atrocious, actually. We're the oldest service club in town and we've been at the trade show for 27 years.

'Thank heavens we haven't ordered the food yet.'

Marinoske said the money his group raises goes to things such as the child ID program as well as to sponsor a scout troop, minor soccer and playground development.

'I understand the city has to maximize their revenue on the building but I have a problem with a facility that's taxpayer-funded giving exclusive rights to restaurants,' he said.

'We operated at Takhini Arena for years and nobody said anything.'

Linda Rapp is the manager of the city's Parks and Recreation Department. She said the clubs are being told they can't operate the food stalls because the Midnight Sun Coffee Roasters and the Subway sandwich chain have a contract with the city to be the exclusive food vendors at the facility.

'Basically, if they don't agree, if they don't want other vendors to come in, that's within their rights and their lease agreement.

'I think it would be an unlikely case that in facilities like this, exclusivity was not in place. They wouldn't have chosen to come in if there wasn't a good business case for it.'

According to Canadan Games lease agreements, the Midnight Sun has exclusive rights to sell specialty teas, coffee, espresso, smoothies, blender drinks, muffins and cookies. Subway has the right to sell sandwiches, salads and wraps.

Rapp said circumstances have changed since last year, when trade show food stalls were permitted.

'Last year at the trade show, we wouldn't have had both agreements in place.'

A hot dog stand permitted during the Canada Games would have been permitted by the host society, which had leased the entire facility and vending machines and had its own contract, she added.

Rapp said she's not sure how the miscommunication happened.

'There may have been certain assumptions there.'

Ofelia Andrade, the owner of the Subway franchises in Whitehorse, said this morning she's not familiar with the details of the contract.

'I don't know what the contract says. It was only signed a couple of weeks ago.

'I have no idea; I don't know,' she said of the situation.

If the city was to rent out the facility to other food vendors, it may have wanted to consider that before signing the leases with Subway and the Midnight Sun, she noted.

Zola DorÈ, owner of the Midnight Sun, city councillors Dave Stockdale, Doug Graham, Florence Roberts, Dave Austin and Mayor Bev Buckway could not be reached for comment on the situation.