Hear this story as reported on Tantramar Report:
The Sackville Farmers Market is holding its Annual General Meeting Wednesday, April 14th (over Zoom at 7pm).
Market Manager Michael Freeman says that all things considered, he will present good news at the meeting.
“We were only closed for a little less than two months at the beginning of the pandemic,” Freeman remembers. “We did lose some of our vendors. Prior to March of last year, a third of our vendor-ship were folks from Nova Scotia, and the border closures and heightened restrictions have just made it more difficult for those folks to come out.”
Freeman says the even though the market lost quite a few vendors, it still grew considerably over the course of the year.
Many new members came to town, including Willow Farm and Little Shemogue Oyster Farm.
“The number of small ‘Mom and Pop’ producers in our region that are using our market as a stable and reliable long-term place to do sales is incredible,” says Freeman.
“One of my big takeaways from this year… [is] I think we’ve seen overall growth in the number of regular core supporters that come out to the market. That has really floated us through this year…I have heard from some of our core farmers that this has been one of their best sales years ever.”
Of course, it was not all roses. Winter proved to be an obstacle since indoor gatherings were limited due to COVID-19, and its previous venue the Sackville Commons moved to Lorne Street.
“During the pandemic, it was pretty much impossible to book a shared use indoor space to bring a couple hundred people in on a regular basis,” says Freeman. “We operated all winter long outdoors, in the parking lot behind Bagtown and Pi by Crow, and had really good turnouts considering the weather. On miserable days that, some of our vendors would forecast ‘Oh, maybe I’ll make 60 sales,’ and still end up having record sales days.”
Freeman says a more permanent indoor winter location is something the market needs, hopefully before next winter.
The demand for certain food products boomed this year, says Freeman. The market sold a record number of bags of carrots and cartons of eggs.
The growth and the interest in the market makes Freeman optimistic about the future. He hopes to host another harvest dinner this fall, and arrange events to celebrate Sackville’s Fall Fair.
All members of the public are welcome to attend, and can get the Zoom link by emailing Freeman at sackvillemarket@gmail.com.
Attendees will be entered into a raffle for two free market memberships.
