This weekend’s Barrie Farmers' Market is a cause for celebration.
Not only will the popular downtown market be celebrating its 176th year in existence, it will also be returning to its “pre-pandemic” glory with upwards of 50 vendors once again taking over a section of Mulcaster Street every Saturday from 8 a.m. until noon, says market development and operations manager Jaime Grant.
“With COVID, there were a lot of rules and Mulcaster had to be left open as an emergency route, so we could no longer do the road closures," she told BarrieToday.
With the continued easing of provincial COVID-19 public health measures this spring, the city officially lifted the state of emergency that had been put in place nearly two years prior. That meant farmers' market officials were finally able to obtain the permits that will allow the market to once again set up along Mulcaster Street between Collier and Worsley streets every Saturday from 8 a.m. until noon.
Being back to setting up on the road, Grant noted, means the market can finally expand, after having to reduce the number of vendors to not only fit the smaller space they’d been using, but also to ensure they were following all public health measures.
“It allows expansion, which we are all very, very excited about. More vendors can come… which means more food, more (products),” said Grant.
They are set to welcome 42 vendors this weekend, with more expected to participate as their products come into season.
“There was a dramatic drop in vendorship because a lot of farmers made the choice not to be open in a public setting as well as periods of time we were actually closed to the public," she added. "There was a huge impact and we really need the public to come back to the market and support the local farms.”
The Barrie Farmers’ Market is also expanding its numbers of vendors in anticipation of eventually moving the market to what is currently the downtown bus terminal on Maple Avenue.
“We are anticipating that move and therefore have expanded vendorship in order to fill that space,” Grant explained.
The farmers' market will also be going mobile over the next couple of months.
The City of Barrie and the Barrie Farmers’ Market have partnered together to create mobile markets on four Thursday afternoons over the next couple of months, Grant said.
Set to alternate between Centennial Park and Heritage Park from 1-5 p.m. on June 30, July 21, Aug. 11 and Sept. 1, Grant said the mobile markets will provide different opportunities for people who might not be able to attend on a Saturday morning.
“It’s different times and a different space, and will hopefully catch people who just don’t have access so we are trying to create access for them," she said.
Having been operating since 1847, the purpose of the Barrie Farmers’ Market has really remained the same over the years, Grant noted.
“The needs of the community are still the same as they were back then. They still need reliable, local food. Things that are made by people in the community are still very sought after and I think that ultimately is why the market is still so successful," she said.
Grant, who also runs the Innisfil Farmers’ Market and serves as a vendor, said farmers markets such as these help create a meeting spot for a wide variety of local farms, makers, bakers, food processors, etc., to have an open space to come and share their products.
They also provide the public with a space to meet each other and socialize while also picking up local products in a less “corporate” experience. Farmers’ markets are also culturally important, she added.
“It’s not just the fact that it’s existed for 176 years, but there’s live music, so you’re getting a music component. You have different types and mediums of art which can be anything from how they made that piece of pottery, how they carved that piece of wood to how they made that lotion or soap,” she said.
“I think we are going to create the new normal, but what that looks like is still a little bit hazy.”
At the end of the day, getting back to “normal” said Grant, will mean the return of much-needed connections between people.
“A lot of it is a feeling you get when you go to a farmers’ market and I want that feeling of community to come back for people,” she said. “I am noticing the maple buds are starting to swell and I feel like we are just on the beginning of them to burst open — and that’s what it feels like with the market to me.
"It’s like it’s just about to burst open and reveal what is waiting there.”
