County officials temporarily closed the doors of an indoor farmer’s market Tuesday after the organizers of the market failed to obtain a permit to operate at 1680 Ute Boulevard.

“This is just vindictive,” Kurt von Puttkammer, who helped organize Market Hall in the Snyderville Basin, said in a telephone interview Tuesday afternoon. “We’re told they are coming with chains to chain the outside door.”

The business provides space for about 20 vendors hawking food, clothing, artwork and crafts.

But commerce paused at the market on Tuesday as Summit County officials ordered Puttkammer to cease doing business in the 3,200-square-foot space.

“They came in this morning with no warning and a sheriff saying we are about to chain your doors shut,” von Puttkammer said.

Summit County Clerk Kent Jones said the market hadn’t paid the $2,500 fee required for obtaining a mass event license from the county.

“Every individual needs a business license to do whatever it is they are going to do,” Jones said in a telephone interview Tuesday.

County officials have issued mass event licenses when groups have consisted of many smaller vendors, such as the Farmer’s Market at The Canyons.

“Then we don’t have to license every individual vendor,” Jones said.

Licensing individual businesses would cost about $175 each, when for $2,500, Market Hall organizers could house up to 50 vendors, Jones explained.

“It’s a decent deal,” Jones said.

After the market closed Tuesday afternoon, organizers rushed to Coalville to obtain the mass event license to operate through December, he said.

“They basically were very apologetic,” Jones said.

Still, von Puttkammer said, the county charging $2,500 for the permit is unacceptable.

“For a small business just starting up that is very difficult for us to come up with,” he said. “In four weeks it’s due again If we have to pay those fees, I can tell you right now, we are shutting the doors.”

Market Hall occupies space sandwiched between Molly Blooms Restaurant and Pub and Park City Coffee Roasters, which sat vacant for more than a year before vendors moved in this fall. Merchants have included Orion’s Music Shop, Calcium Springs Farm and Volker’s Bakery.

“We are at the ground level of retail and they’re trying to charge these massive fees,” von Puttkammer said. “We are not Walmart.”