Fresh agricultural produce straight from your local farmers
Marché D’ici du Lac-brome kicks off its 2021 season
Marché D’ici du Lac-brome, the local farmers’ market, will celebrate its opening weekend on June 5. Organized by les Marchés D’ici for a third year, the non-profit organization supporting local agricultural production and a good standard of living for farmers, is celebrating 20 years this year. The market will once again be held in the parking lot of Theatre Lac-brome. The market plays an important role in the community and organizers are hoping for a successful year with some new additions.
“Often farmers’ markets are young, they have three or four years of life, but Lac-brome is about 10 or 12 years old and since the very first day it started, people went to that market,” said Diane Seguin, founder of les Marché D’ici and the head of its board of directors. “It’s a really good market for producers because it’s important for them to have direct contact with their clients to explain what they do. When you’re a client and you speak to the producer you can understand all the work there is to produce a carrot, a steak, a meal.”
Seguin emphasized that it’s important for the community to know the people behind the product. “They will be there each week and if you are not satisfied or have a question they are there to answer. You have a guarantee and more security about who produces the product. There is traceability; who made the product, who they are, and where they are. That is a guarantee and that is important for me. The campaign in Quebec to buy from local producers is all about that.”
The market is also an important space to educate the community about local agricultural production. “Farmers’ markets are so important because people understand why they cannot have tomatoes the first week of June. That’s not the way the ground works, it’s not the way they grow. We educate people at the same time and they understand why agriculture is important. It’s a place where people exchange with one another and understand that there is work behind the product and that there is a person and an enterprise too behind the product. It’s important to the survival of a region to have a good farmers’ market.”
Marché D’ici du Lac-brome will once again be located in the spacious parking love of Theatre Lac-brome after moving there last year due to Covid restrictions. “The producers were too close to one another at our other location and clients couldn’t respect the two meters distance, so we moved to the parking lot of the theatre. It’s fun because the real place for a market to be is in the heart of the village.”
One of the characteristics that makes the market in Brome Lake special is that it’s had the same producers since Day one, who are either from Knowlton or its surrounding villages, but like Seguin mentioned, the market needs new things too. “We have something very special this year. It’s called Passion Recolte, brought to the town by a young girl who went to Vietnam for three or four months and realized that youngsters over there and families worked in fields and picked cashews. She saw how they were treated and she wanted to help them. She structured their enterprise and she goes and lives there three to six months a year and comes back with cashew nuts. She also brings back pepper; top quality pepper.”
Club Mijoté, a new enterprise that makes ready-to-go meals and provides vegan and vegetarian options, will also make its way to the market starting on July 3 and Paradis des fruits Duham, a fall fruits producer, will participate in the market near the end of August.
Despite the Covid restrictions, Marché D’ici du Lac-brome had a successful year last year and Seguin hopes that will continue in 2021. “It’s a gift during the summer to have the farmers’ market and we really think it’s important.”
She added that she wants to see the market play a role in the experiences of visitors to Brome Lake. “I’m trying to tell people that it’s a double experience. Come to the market but after go to for a picnic, go in the village to buy from the boutiques and stores. Our campaign is to live experiences and Lac-brome is a gift because it’s so nice and there are lots of things to do.”
Marché D’ici du Lac-brome starts on June 5 and runs for 19 weeks until Oct. 9. It will be located at 9 Chemin du Mont-écho, Knowlton.