Helping the New Glasgow Farmers Market to grow
The Municipality of Pictou County is lending a hand to raising the barn.
Earlier this month, the municipality committed $45,000 toward the New Glasgow Farmers Market’s Raise the Barn project.
The money comes from a council grant — grants that usually go toward major projects that will affect the entire county.
“Farmers markets are important in the culture of our communities for sure,” said Warden Robert Parker.
He says farmers markets help local food and economy and they also tie the urban and the rural together, benefiting both.
“We were pleased to be able to find within our budget some money to put toward helping them and hopefully they can come up with enough money from various places to eventually put this building up,” says Parker.
The $45,000 from the municipality goes a long way toward the $400,000 the market is looking to raise from the community for a new permanent market building, says New Glasgow market manager Kristi Russell.
She says the municipality has always been supportive of local farmers and the New Glasgow Farmers Market.
The total budget for the Raise the Barn project is $800,000 which they are hoping to subsidize half of with grants.
They are looking for a new permanent structure for multiple reasons. The farmers market has a building that is roughly 500 square metres but they also have a large dome structure that would be replaced with the new building.
The dome is essentially only a tent and will someday need to be replaced, so the market is trying to be proactive. It also can’t provide the heat, water and electrical necessary for vendors and customers.
“We are at a point where we’ve reached capacity and we have vendors that would attend in January and February but we can’t accommodate them,” says Russell.
A larger area would allow them to improve their kitchen area and add a commercial dishwasher, small market store and storage space.
Not only will the permanent structure benefit vendors, it will provide a more comfortable space for customers and space to eat in the winter. Russell says it will also increase community food security and be able to provide more local goods to the community.