Ottawa Farmers’ Markets

[rocketphish]

Coffee, jam and cheese could be coming to ByWard, Parkdale markets

Matthew Pearson, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: March 6, 2017 | Last Updated: March 6, 2017 4:03 PM EST

Local coffee roasters, cheese makers and jam producers could soon be invited to sell their products at the ByWard and Parkdale markets.

The city is proposing to expand the criteria for its outdoor markets to include a new “microprocessor” category. Microprocessors are considered small-scale, local producers who are “actively and directly engaged in the transformation or processing of an agri-food product” intended for consumption.

The agri-food category is currently limited to fruits, vegetables, plants, roots, seeds, cereal and cereal products, mushrooms, eggs, meat and fish, poultry and game, and dairy, honey and maple products.

But adding microprocessors will help revitalize the markets and better align them with other farmers’ markets, said Shannon Kenney of the markets’ management team. “We’re catching up,” she said, adding the current rules have forced the ByWard and Parkdale markets to turn away would-be vendors for the past several years.

Kenney’s report, to be considered Tuesday by the finance and economic development committee, says microprocessors will broaden the existing range of products and enhance the markets’ ability to attract both new vendors and a stronger customer base.

Microprocessors could also help both markets generate additional revenue, depending on how many new vendors are recruited.

Paul Foster, who runs Poppa-Bean Coffee Company out of his family’s garage in Vars, said he’d welcome the chance to set up shop at such a historic tourist attraction.

“The ByWard Market is the big show,” Foster said.

Foster started selling coffee at farmers’ markets in Cumberland and Metcalfe in 2007, and moved to the Ottawa Farmers’ Market at Lansdowne Park about two years ago.

Last year, he and three part-time employees roasted and bagged about 15,000 pounds of coffee, some of which was sourced directly from farmers in Honduras and Cuba.

There are immense risks to starting a business and startup costs are high, Foster said. But being able to sell at farmers’ markets gives people a platform to grow their businesses. “It’s a really good idea,” he said.

Michael Sunderland, whose Michael’s Dolce line includes jams, marmalades, sriracha and barbecue sauces, and various syrups, agreed.

He produced about 400 jars of jam per week last year and says farmers’ markets accounted for a quarter of his annual sales.

“It would be a fantastic new adventure to have these venues to sell at,” he said.

Several shops in the ByWard Market already carry his products, so it’s not a location he would consider. But the Parkdale Market is quite appealing, Sunderland said. “I’m on board for that.”

The current definition of local includes products produced or grown in Ottawa, the counties of Prescott Russell, Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry, Leeds and Grenville, Lanark, Renfrew and the Outaouais.

If council agrees with the proposal, microprocessors could be in place at the ByWard and Parkdale markets as early as May.

mpearson@postmedia.com
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[rocketphish]

City Council: Green light for local coffee, cheese at markets, new McArthur bike lanes

Matthew Pearson, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: March 8, 2017 | Last Updated: March 8, 2017 6:36 PM EST

Approving the Stage 2 LRT plan was the main entrée at Wednesday’s city council meeting, but there were several juicy appetizers.

ByWard, Parkdale markets to offer local coffee, cheese and jam

Local coffee roasters, cheese makers and jam producers can soon set up stands at the ByWard and Parkdale markets.

The city is expanding the criteria for its outdoor markets to include a new “microprocessor” category. Microprocessors are considered small-scale, local producers who are “actively and directly engaged in the transformation or processing of an agri-food product” intended for consumption.

Adding microprocessors will help revitalize the markets and better align them with other farmers’ markets, the city says. Microprocessors could also help both markets generate additional revenue, depending on how many new vendors are recruited, and could be in place at the ByWard and Parkdale markets as early as May.

<snip>

mpearson@postmedia.com
twitter.com/mpearson78

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[waterloowarrior]

New zoning for 3 farmers' markets

The Ottawa Farmers' Market Association is also looking to expand beyond its current three sites, with three zoning proposals that go before planning committee on March 28.

It turns out the Byron market in Westboro, which it's been operating for five years, didn't have the proper zoning. But in the process of applying to make things right, the city heard from residents who wanted the zoning rejected over concerns about parking, garbage, noise and wear-and-tear on the grass in the Byron linear park.

Coun. Leiper wrote that residents overall like the market in the neighbourhood and is convinced those concerns can be mitigated.

The farmers are also looking to expand to Riverside South, with 20 to 50 vendors set up in the Riverview park and ride on Sundays from June through October.

Ottawa showing appetite for new south end farmers' market

Stittsville, too, would get a new market in Village Square Park on its main street. It would be a smaller market, with 10 to 20 vendors setting up on Friday afternoons.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa...034704?cmp=rss
[QUOTE=waterloowarrior;7747329]recommended for approval
http://ottwatch.ca/meetings/PLC/6976

[rocketphish]

Three new farmers' markets up for consideration in Ottawa neighbourhoods

Matthew Pearson, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: March 24, 2017 | Last Updated: March 24, 2017 11:58 AM EDT

There could be a bounty of fresh fruit and vegetables coming to three Ottawa neighbourhoods.

The planning committee will be asked Tuesday to formally approve farmers’ markets in three locations, two of which are new — Village Square Park in Stittsville, the Byron Linear Tramway Park in Westboro and the Riverview park and ride in south Ottawa.

The markets will be run by the Ottawa Farmers’ Market Association, which also operates the Lansdowne Market and one at the Ray Friel Recreation Complex in Orléans.

A minimum of 60 per cent of the vendors must be direct-sales from farmers within 100 kilometres of Ottawa and the markets prohibit the re-selling of farm products.

The new Stittsville market would operate on Fridays between noon and 6 p.m., from June to October. The location is expected to attract up to 20 vendors.

The Byron market has actually been operating for five years, but the city is only now amending the zoning to permit a farmers’ market at this location. The market operates on Saturdays between 9:30 a.m. and 3 p.m., from May to October. This location is expected to have up to 50 vendors.

And the south Ottawa market would operate on Sundays between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m., from June to October. This location is expected to have as many as 50 vendors.

In its report to the committee, the planning department says it received more than 100 comments from the public about the new markets, the majority of which were positive.

Concerns, however, were raised about traffic, parking, garbage removal and preservation of greenspace.

Stittsville Coun. Shad Qadri, Kitchissippi Coun. Jeff Leiper and Gloucester-South Nepean Coun. Michael Qaqish — in whose wards the markets would be located — are all supportive of the proposal.

mpearson@postmedia.com
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[rocketphish]

Kale for all: Planning committee OKs three farmers' markets

Matthew Pearson, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: March 28, 2017 | Last Updated: March 28, 2017 7:21 PM EDT

The city planning committee on Tuesday approved farmers’ markets in three locations, two of which are new — Village Square Park in Stittsville, the Byron Linear Tramway Park in Westboro and the Riverview park-and-ride in south Ottawa.

The markets will be run by the Ottawa Farmers’ Market Association, which also operates the Lansdowne Market and one at the Ray Friel Recreation Complex in Orléans.

The new Stittsville market would operate on Fridays between noon and 6 p.m., from June to October. The location is expected to attract as many as 20 vendors.

The Byron market has actually been operating for five years, but the city is only now amending the zoning to permit a farmers’ market at this location. The market operates on Saturdays between 9:30 a.m. and 3 p.m., from May to October. This location is expected to have as many as 50 vendors.

And the south Ottawa market would operate on Sundays between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m., from June to October. This location is expected to have as many as 50 vendors.

Council will have the final say on April 12.

mpearson@postmedia.com
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[rocketphish]

Council OKs new management for ByWard, Parkdale markets

Matthew Pearson, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: April 12, 2017 | Last Updated: April 12, 2017 4:51 PM EDT

Council endorsed a new governance structure for the ByWard and Parkdale markets, with hopes that severing oversight from city hall will produce fresh ideas.

By pulling the bureaucracy out of the markets business, the city believes there will be a new perspective to running the operations. The city will create a not-for-profit municipal services corporation to run the markets starting in 2018.

The economic and development branch is currently in charge of vending at both markets and the real estate management at the Clarence Street parking garage. The city-owned central building in the ByWard Market has been run by a property manager and that contract is done at the end of 2017.

The city has $476,000 available this year to get the new municipal services corporation off the ground. The money would pay for legal costs and recruitment activities for a board and executive director. The first two years under new oversight are expected to result in deficits, but a surplus is projected for 2020.

Councillors Mathieu Fleury, Jeff Leiper and Mayor Jim Watson will be tasked with finding the chair, vice-chair and treasurer of the new nine-member board of the municipal services corporation. The other six members would be approved by council.

Meanwhile, council also approved farmers’ markets in three locations, two of which are new — Village Square Park in Stittsville, the Byron Linear Tramway Park in Westboro and the Riverview park-and-ride in south Ottawa.

The markets will be run by the Ottawa Farmers’ Market Association, which also operates the Lansdowne Market and one at the Ray Friel Recreation Complex in Orléans.

The Byron market has actually been operating for five years, but the city only now amended the zoning to permit a farmers’ market at this location.

The Beechwood Market, which normally sets up at the corner of St. Charles and Beechwood, is relocating for three years to nearby Optimiste Park.

The Saturday market is being displaced by the redevelopment of the St. Charles church lands.

Council directed staff to temporarily rezone the park at 43 Ste-Cécile St. to permit the market.

— With files from Jon Willing

mpearson@postmedia.com
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[YOWetal]

Hmm strange strategy. The current markets are struggling, probably because of the additional competition from Brewer's Park now Landsdowne and other smaller markets. So we essentially privatize the markets and open even more neighborhood markets?

[kwoldtimer]

I'm not clear at all on how the change in governance structure is supposed to change anything, or why it's required to make changes/improvements. At a cost of almost half a million dollars, that should be more clearly established, istm.

[Uhuniau]

For my part, it's not a choice between going to a neighbourhood market or going to Parkdale/Byward.

It's between going to a neighbourhood market or Metro/Blawblaw's/Sobey's.

[rocketphish]

Main Farmers' Market coming back home
Market's two-year stint at Museum of Nature was a "great opportunity," director says.

By: Drew May, Metro
Published on Mon Apr 24 2017

The Main Farmers’ Market will be moving back to its Main Street home after a two-year stint at the Museum of Nature.

The market moved because of ongoing construction but will be setting up in the parking lot next to the Green Door Restaurant starting May 6, according to Christine MacIntyre, vice-president of the market’s board of directors.

She said the move let the market’s vendors sell to a new group of people in Centretown.

“There were all these new condo developments…. it turned into a great opportunity for these folks to have some regional, local, fresh produce come right to their doorsteps,” she said.

MacIntyre said the market is in transition because of the move back, but also because of the construction around its location.

Since spring 2015 the area around Main Street has been under construction as new condo buildings and housing developments are built. According to the city, construction on the street is scheduled to finish this summer.

“The next couple weeks will be really exciting for us as (the vendors) settle into the new location and people walk down the street and discover that their market is back,” she said. “I think it will be quite a joyous time.”

MacIntyre said she hopes the move will bring back the sense of community to the market.

“Our desire for the market is to be a place where the community can really come together and… get to know each other and help each other. We hope that those community people will come back.”

http://www.metronews.ca/news/ottawa/...back-home.html

[rocketphish]

Sod replacement turfs Westboro farmers market
This weekend will be the last market for 6 weeks as the city repairs sod at Byron Linear Park

Matthew Kupfer · CBC News
Posted: May 31, 2019 6:18 AM ET | Last Updated: 37 minutes ago

Vendors at the Ottawa Farmers' Market in Westboro are frustrated the city has given them a little more than a week's notice that the market will be shutting down for more than a month.

They were told Thursday that the city is asking them to leave Byron Linear Park to allow for re-sodding work, and that the market could resume six weeks later on July 13.

There will still be a market this Saturday.

Gerry Rochon, a produce farmer who sells at various city markets, said the city should have spoken to vendors at least as early as January.

"I'm very angry and really mad because you don't decide something like this at the last minute and expect people to stay home. It's half the season for the market. I have to lay off people," Rochon said.

He said it seems like the city doesn't understand or care for farmers. He's already paid to plant crops this season and could lose that money.

"It's all in the ground waiting to be harvested and now, all of a sudden, I can't sell it. Where do I sell it?"

Jill Davies, who operates Buzz Honey Products, is also a member of the board of the Ottawa Farmers' Market.

"That makes us feel very much betrayed, not thought of as being important to the social fabric of Westboro," Davies said.

The market in Byron Linear Park has helped her build relationships with clients for products she puts a lot of work into sourcing and making, she added.

"It's not like there's 27,000 other markets that could just pick us all up and we'll be as we were. In six weeks our customer base has the potential to go elsewhere."

In a statement attributed to parks manager Dan Chenier, the city said it "understands the inconvenience this causes vendors and residents, and continues to work with the [market] to find an alternate location nearby."

Chenier said the city delayed repaving work in Byron Linear Park to late last fall in order to accommodate the market season, but that there wasn't enough time to replace the grass in the fall. That work was rescheduled to this spring, but delayed due to wet weather.

Coun. Jeff Leiper said he supports the market but his office has received complaints about the erosion of the grass in the past.

"I'm disappointed to hear that they will have to move," he said. "The damage that has been done to the sod over the years, particularly from the market, has been significant. It needs to be repaired."

Leiper said his office is trying to look into other possible locations.

"It seems like very short notice that's going to be disruptive to the vendors," he said.

Leiper asked the city if the work could be moved to the fall and was told there were contractual and weather reasons it needed to go ahead now, he added.

He said the work to the park, including widening the paved path and a request that vendors stand on platforms instead of grass during the market, could help avoid disruptions in the future.

With files from CBC's Robyn Miller

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottaw...-sod-1.5156748

[McC]

So boneheaded of the City not to set the alternate location before making the announcement.

[CityTech]

They should have told the vendors and the public in the fall when it was known it would have to happen.

[rocketphish]

https://twitter.com/CBCOttawa/status...93700506169349

[Kitchissippi]

I was at the farmers market this morning and some of the vendors still didn't know that the work is being delayed. I don't understand how laying sod could take a month, as I see it it's like a days work.

[McC]

But you need to keep people off of it.

[rocketphish]

Ottawa Farmers' Market vendors unite to sell produce through new website

Peter Hum, Ottawa Citizen
Publishing date: 5 hours ago • 1 minute read

Sixteen vendors from the Ottawa Farmers’ Market are selling their produce and products through a new website that allows customers to place orders for pickup or delivery.

At the website farmscore.ca, the vendors include: Roots Down Organic Farm, Burrell Farm, Bushgarden Farm, Backyard Edibles, Castor River Farm, La Bergerie des Sables, Buzzz Honey Products, Blue Shoes Honey, Maple Country, bakery House of Pain, smokehouse Le Petit Brûlé, Milkhouse Farm + Dairy, Kricklewood Farm, Hall’s Apple Market, Raon Kitchen and Dominion City Brewing Co.

Online orders must be made by 9 p.m. on Wednesdays for Saturday deliveries. The minimum purchase is $50 and there is a $5 delivery charge. Alternately, orders can be picked up at Raon Kitchen (6-65 Bentley Ave. in Nepean) on Saturdays between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m.

Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson said this week that the Lansdowne and Westboro farmers’ markets will open this year but that the date hasn’t been determined.

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local...-2d79ce9ef7e6/

[rocketphish]

Ottawa Farmers' Market to reopen with click and collect system
No buskers, no browsing and no bite-size samples at Lansdowne Park this Sunday

CBC News
Posted: May 25, 2020 5:53 PM ET | Last Updated: May 25



The Ottawa Farmers' Market is reopening next weekend, but for both shoppers and vendors, the experience will be unlike any season before.

To allow for physical distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic, customers must make their purchases ahead of time directly from producers, then register for a time to pick up their goods. It goes without saying there will be no buskers performing or food samples handed out.

Lansdowne Park is the first location to reopen. It offers pickups from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday. Pickups in the first hour are reserved for seniors 65 years and older and people with compromised immune systems.

"We are trying to get back to as normal as possible a way of operating," Jocelyne Garland, chair of the Ottawa Farmers' Market Association, told CBC's All in a Day on Monday.

For weeks, the Ottawa Farmers' Market Association has been in discussions with Ottawa Public Health and city officials to figure out how to sell locally produced food safely during the pandemic.

Together, they devised a four-step system that is "as safe as possible" for both vendors and shoppers, Garland said. While Lansdowne will be the first location to get going, the association is planning to reopen other markets soon.

How to buy at the Ottawa Farmers' Market:

• Go to the market's Eventbrite page and register for a pickup time.
• Open a confirmation email which includes the list of available vendors at the market and links to online ordering systems or stores.
• Purchase the items directly from a vendor's online system. (Shoppers cannot buy anything in person on Sunday.)
• Arrive at the Ottawa Farmers' Market on time.

The market has about one-fifth the normal number of vendors, said Garland, as many of the farmers struggled to move to online stores to sell their products.

Even anticipating inventories can be hard for farmers, with so much still growing in the fields, she said.

"It is very, very difficult at the moment," Garland said.

On market day, only one person per household should pickup orders, the Ottawa Farmers' Market says.

Ottawa Public Health continues to advise people to remain two metres apart from others who don't live in the same household, and to consider wearing a non-medical or cloth mask in public places where physical distancing is a challenge.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottaw...d-19-1.5584065

[rocketphish]

Parkdale, ByWard Markets reopen Thursday with different look and feel
Expect fewer people, reduced hours, new restrictions as vendors return

Kimberley Molina · CBC News
Posted: Jun 15, 2020 10:47 AM ET | Last Updated: June 15



Come Thursday, vendors at the Parkdale and ByWard Markets will be back in business, but the head of Ottawa Markets says it won't be business as usual.

The markets were forced to close in March because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The plan is to reopen them later this week for fewer days and reduced hours, along with plenty of hand sanitizer.

There will also be far fewer people.

"We don't have the hotel occupancy and the tourism numbers that we would at this time of year, so the individuals that are using the services — the shops and the market — are very much so locals. So I think it's going to perhaps provide a different feeling in the market," said Zach Dayler, executive director of Ottawa Markets.

He said there will also be fewer vendors at both markets, and each vendor will only be able to serve a maximum of two to three customers at at time.

Both markets are taking steps to protect customers and vendors, including designated entrances and exits, signs reminding people to physically distance, and encouraging everyone to wear a mask. Both customers and vendors will also be screened for possible COVID-19 symptoms. There will also be several hand sanitizing stations throughout both markets.

Dayler said despite the changes, he's hoping shoppers will come out and support local vendors.

"Opening up the market ... will sort of, you know, get them back into the idea of popping into the shops, grabbing their meat at Saslove's or their fish at Lapointe, popping into the cheese shop, grabbing something from Rochon Garden," he said.

"Those are things we're still going to be able to do, but it's going to be in a bit of a slower way."

With files from Joe Tunney

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottaw...ning-1.5611358

[rocketphish]

Outdoor markets quiet, yet to find their summer bustle

Kelly Egan, Ottawa Citizen
Publishing date: Jun 28, 2020 • Last Updated 19 hours ago • 3 minute read



Two of Ottawa’s premier outdoor markets are off to a slow start this year under novel coronavirus-throttled conditions.

At Parkdale Market on Sunday, only four vendors were open and many of the 30 stalls sat empty. Even among those open, inventories were low, a far cry from the bursting bins that shoppers have grown accustomed to in the summer months. At the Robinson stall — fourth-generation vendors at Parkdale — there are normally a dozen staff members bustling about, so busy that stock has to be resupplied three times a day.

On Sunday, there were but four staff there, fairly empty shelves and barely any customers.

Zach Dayler, executive director of Ottawa Markets, a municipal service corporation that runs Parkdale and ByWard markets, explained the various factors at play during the pandemic.

For one thing, the markets are only open from Thursday to Sunday, meaning all the produce left over Sunday has to be trucked back to farms or storage coolers, a big inconvenience compared with seven-days-a-week operations. It also makes the market that much tougher for resellers who get their supply in places like Montreal’s produce hubs.

And street retailing is much curtailed. The stalls are only open on one side (away from the street on Parkdale), only a small number of customers can enter at any one time, and the produce is kept away from the public’s reach. Ottawa Markets also reported that ByWard only had about four vendors operating on the weekend.

Dayler estimated about a third of last year’s vendors are back, a number he hopes will increase as the summer goes on. But with required distancing between stalls, he expects Parkdale can only accommodate about three more sellers.

Dayler said two or three prominent sellers retired at the end of last season and other families have not stepped forward to fill in the shoes. Customers, too, are also not shopping the way they normally would, leaving a good deal of uncertainty in the sector.

“I hate to point to Kingston,” said Dayler, “but the issue with that nail salon, for example, just showed how quickly things can sort of spiral out of control.”

One vendor on Sunday talked about all the seasonal markets that were lost this year because they couldn’t open until June 18 — the starter plants, the flowers and hanging baskets, for instance. Others, meanwhile, have successfully turned their businesses to online operations or have chosen to sell right off the farm.

The financial effect on Ottawa Markets has been dramatic, Dayler said, as rents — for indoor and outdoor stalls — are a main source of revenue. He says revenue is probably down 40 to 50 per cent.

“We have definitely taken a significant financial hit over COVID from loss of rent revenue and we’ve lost a significant portion of the outdoor market season, where we normally generate revenue.”

But Dayler remains optimistic that new, innovative vendors will be added soon, particularly as COVID-19 restrictions and anxiety ease.

As a precaution, he says vendors are asked a series of questions every morning before they open to detect any signs of the coronavirus.

One vendor predicted it will be a tough season for fruit growers as the pandemic is creating all kinds of problems for migrant workers who normally do the picking. Prices, she predicted, might soar.

To contact Kelly Egan, please call 613-291-6265 or email kegan@postmedia.com.
Twitter.com/kellyegancolumn

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