Farmers Market resumes Saturday without crafters

Minus the crafters, the Kelowna Farmers’ and Crafters Market starts again this Saturday after a winter shutdown.

A variety of food vendors will be on hand at the Parkinson recreation centre but public health orders means crafters are not currently permitted to sell their wares at farmers’ markets in B.C.

“We’ll miss not having the crafters because they are certainly part of our family, but that’s the way the orders are for now,” David Price, president of the society that runs the market, said Tuesday.

About 20 vendors — including bakers, chicken and beef producers, and farmers selling root vegetables — are expected at the market, which runs from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Normally, crafters selling speciality products such as jewelry, candles, and other handmade items are a popular market attraction in the winter and early spring. There’s some disgruntlement in the artisan community that crafters are currently excluded from farmer’s markets on the grounds they are not providing an essential service, Price says.

“It seems like the government says having crafters at a market sort of makes it into an event, and since events are banned right now, the crafters aren’t allowed,” Price says.

“But really, when there’s dozens of people inside a bigbox hardware store on a Saturday afternoon, isn’t that sort like an ‘event’, too?” Price says.

The Kelowna Farmers’ and Crafters Market usually operates indoors weekly at the PRC through much of the winter, but decided this year to take a break. That saved the organization some leasing, security and administration costs.

Plans are to launch the more popular outdoor market at the corner of Springfield Road and Dilworth Drive as usual this spring, likely again with COVID-19 protocols.