The 2023 Midland summer farmers' market is opening up this weekend, but the location in a parking lot at the corner of Bay and First Streets could be different next year.
Lorrie Ritchie, co-owner of Mundy’s Bay Honey and board secretary of the not-for-profit market, spoke to MidlandToday about the upcoming season.
“It's called Southern Georgian Bay Farmers’ Markets with an ‘s’,” explained Ritchie, “because at one point in time there was one in Penetanguishene, one in Midland, and one in Victoria Harbor; that's why it has the plural.”
Its origins remain hidden as the markets (of originally six vendors before growing) had shifted in those municipalities and moreso within them individually over 20 years ago, before amalgamating into a single collective of market vendors. This weekend will host 24 vendors, the organizations’ largest amount to date.
Those vendors might need a new place to sell their product next year, however.
“We’re on the parking lot at the discretion of the town,” Ritchie stated, “and the town has listed the parking lot for sale – which may or may not sell, but in the meantime they served notice.
"We are valuable to the economy, valuable for tourism, and we have a record that shifting us from pillar to post is not good,” added Ritchie. According to her records, Ritchie stated that shifting the market location in previous years resulted in a 50 per cent decrease in sales.
Mayor Bill Gordon responded to MidlandToday that the parking lot at 526 Bay St. was a brownfield site declared surplus several years ago when it was the proposed site for a Barrie-based brewery, and has remained surplus land since.
The property was listed on the Realtor Canada website in tandem with others in town, including Knox Presbyterian Church, and Gordon cited that after years of little growth in the community, increasing needs for housing and commercial development played a large part in the action.
“The farmer’s market has been enjoying access to this land,” said Gordon, “and while that will change when it is sold and developed, we are committed to helping the market find a new home, perhaps even one that is available year-round if there is an interest.”
Ritchie looked forward to working with the town on whatever outcome happens.
“I believe the town will offer options; it’s just whether or not they’re great options will be the question,” said Ritchie. “What we’d really be quite open to is if the town would offer up the parking lot that’s directly across from Bayshore (Dr.) – between the Trumpeter Swan (monument) and the fire station. That’d be a great spot.”
As per provincial regulations, the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit conducts regular inspections to ensure that vendors – a minimum of 51 per cent of whom are farm producers selling their own products – remain within compliance.
Ritchie also felt that the local proximity of farmers, primarily located within a 30-minute drive at the furthest, along with the overall agricultural aesthetic was a strong counter against the perception of elitist farmers markets found in heavily urban areas.
“I don’t feel that (sense of elitism) so much here, and I think part of that is the general town,” said Ritchie. “This is not a bougie (bourgeois) town; it’s still very rural, very agricultural in a lot of roots. Our buskers are young, very down to earth, girl next door – your teenage daughter’s friend. There’s some real talent but they’re not upscale.”
The Southern Georgian Bay Farmers’ Markets is set to open from May 21 through to October 8 this year, on Sundays from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m.
Further details, including vendor applications, are available on the organization’s website.