St. Norbert Farmers’ Market ready to debut canopy

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This article was published 14/05/2018 (3004 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A little late spring frost isn’t putting a damper on the spirits at the St. Norbert Farmers’ Market.

The market is preparing to open for its 30th season on May 19 and will be beneath its brand-new, highly anticipated four-season canopy.

Marilyn Firth, executive director of the St. Norbert Farmers’ Market, said the final touches are being put on $551,000 project (which ballooned from $447,000 budget originally proposed) and will be ready to welcome vendors and shoppers on opening day.

“We’re very excited,” Firth said. “This is such a game changer to be able to have the producers under the canopy who often have products that are damaged by weather.

“For those vendors, they’ll be able to come on the bad weather days, when before they’d often have to cancel.”

The four-season canopy had initially been planned to open for May 2017 but issues with building permits and variances meant the installation date was pushed to the end of summer. However, a backlog in the city’s permit office and an appeal on a required variance further delayed the project and a winter season opening date was proposed and missed.

The weather has also been unkind to contractors hoping to get the canopy in place and grounds in shape under deadline, Firth said. An early freeze and late spring has slowed progress on landscaping surrounding the new facility and the final grading was only being completed last week when the frost had left the ground.

“Because we’re a non-profit co-operative and we’re a pretty small crew here, this has really been a big project for us,” Firth said. “We’ve all been working really hard and it’s coming along very well.”

But with the major hurdles cleared, Firth is expecting the community to settle in fairly quickly. At 11,700 square-feet, the new accessible facility will allow the majority of market vendors to be shielded from wind and rain, and large garage doors at intervals, plus a crushed limestone ground, will maintain the open-air feel of a farmers’ market. A number of vendors will also spill out of the canopy space and into the grounds at the market, Firth said.

“The only difference really is that we’ve enclosed the canopy in a lot of ways and made it a nicer space, and in the winter of course this is where we’ll have our winter markets moving ahead.

“It does feel like a game changer in terms of our winter market.”

She is expecting about 100 vendors in attendance for opening day, with a decent selection of greenhouse grown vegetables, and attendance records consistent with previous opening days.

“Only two vendors didn’t return from last year, so we are pretty full but we’re also excited to see new products coming in,” Firth said. “We’re working hard to grow our Wednesday market and we’re excited about our Wednesday markets because with the new canopy it will be a nicer space to be in.”

To celebrate the 30th anniversary, Firth said the market is compiling a cookbook that will feature recipes from vendors and producers over the years, expected to be completed by mid-season. In the winter, folks can expect the market to remain open weekly until the end of December.