Downtown market taking over Charlotte St. this year
Largest crowd yet for season opening of the Peterborough Downtown Farmers Market
The Peterborough Downtown Farmers Market returned to its roots Wednesday, taking over a portion of Charlotte Street.
Twenty-one years ago, the downtown market launched on Charlotte St. between Water and George streets as a producers-only market.
Now it’s nearly back to where it all started, just a little further west between George and Louis streets.
The market opened for the season Wednesday. It runs every Wednesday from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. until Oct. 31.
Its location is only temporary though. The market moved from the Louis Street Parking Lot – its home for the last eight years – to make way for a new urban park.
Once the construction is completed, likely in 2019, the market will be run out of the new park, where vendors will have access to water and electricity.
Jill Bishop, Peterborough Downtown Farmers Market manager, said Wednesday’s opening drew the largest crowd yet.
“Even at harvest season, I’m not sure I’ve seen it this busy,” Bishop said.
The market manager partly attributes the large turnout to spring fever, so to speak.
“After that ice storm, I think people are just really excited for signs of spring,” she said.
Bishop also pointed out that the market is the sole producers-only farmers market in the city, which is a draw in itself.
“We have been (producers-only) for 21 years and we’re very proud of that fact.”
Twenty-two vendors set up Wednesday and there are another nine who’ll join. The market typically has all its vendors by July, Bishop said.
East City resident Sharyn Inward has shopped at the downtown market since its early days on Charlotte St.
“I know that it’s all local,” Inward said of why she returns every week.
She likes to pick up meat, veggies and plants – and sometimes a pizza or curry, too.
Her partner Joe Stable is also a fan of the market.
“I live right downtown and it’s just so convenient,” he said.
Jillian Rose paused on the street while her daughters Alexyss, 5, and Olivia, 11, stopped to blow bubbles at GreenUp’s booth.
Rose home schools her daughters in Omemee and likes to take every opportunity to teach outside the house.
“I always try to take them out and make everything educational,” Rose said.
While chatting with a vendor, the Roses were invited out to a farm to help plant gladiolas – a great educational experience, Rose said.
As the rain started to fall near the end of market hours, Dy Gallagher patiently waited for her pizza from the Night Kitchen.
“I always bring my lunch to work and this is a nice alternative,” she said.
Gallagher has shopped at the market for “years and years and years.”
She lives in The Avenues and works downtown, which means she’s usually never more than a hop, skip and a jump away from the downtown market.
“I’m a walker, so it’s great for me,” Gallagher said.