Nanaimo’s ‘best kept secret’ farmer’s market holds 12-year anniversary
Greene says the market has an emphasis on selling locally grown produce and baked goods. Photo: Lauryn Mackenzie / CHLY 101.7fm
A local farmer’s market is celebrating its 12th anniversary of supporting local farmers and makers.
It has been 12 years since the Island Roots Market Co-operative became a registered co-op. The seed for the co-op came from the 2011 Occupy Nanaimo general assembly where would-be farmers noted there was no place to sell their produce year-round.
Michele Greene is the market manager and a current board member of the co-op. She said when the idea for the market first came up, they teamed up with the Bowen Road Farmer’s Market which only ran during the summer. The Island Roots Market Co-operative first started as a winter market to fill the gap.
“Then eight years ago, Island Roots took over the management of the summer market and then we had our own full-year market,” Greene said.
She said the market has an emphasis on selling locally grown produce and baked goods. She said the market does not have as many arts and crafts sellers as other markets might.
“I think that works for us because we're a midweek market,” she said. “People are serious, they come in, they get their groceries–in the summer, they stick around a little bit–but some people are just serious, ‘Let's get our food and go’ type.”
She said the market exists to support farmers, but also to support food security and the local economy.
“If we were cut off from the mainland–if the ferry service stopped, they say that we would only have three days worth of food on the island,” she said. “But we've got all these farmers and the more we support them, the more they can produce, then the more we can be food secure if anything were to happen. It's also keeping money in the local economy is so important, and this is a big way to keep the money in the local economy.”
Greene said the market normally sees about 850 to 1,000 people every week.
She also said there are about 40 to 45 vendors each week, and while the majority of the vendors sell all year round, they do tend to have five or six drop-in vendors that only sell when their produce is in season.
“So they come for maybe one or two weeks, or sometimes they come because their blueberries are ripe, but it's only ripe for four weeks, and then they leave again,” she said. “Sometimes it's just whatever they have available so they come with that and then leave again.”
She said that the COVID-19 pandemic had the market shut down for a year and they moved to an online market. But once the restrictions started to lift they saw a boom in the amount people wanted to sell and also the amount of people wanting to buy locally grown or made.
“In the long run, people came to rely on us as a food source, a lot more people came to rely on us,” Greene said, “We have so many loyal customers that come week after week and our vendors have noticed an increase in sales we have more vendors that are year-round now that used to just come for a season or so many weeks.”
She said while they are always growing in numbers, there are still many people in the community who do not know about the market.
“I think that our biggest obstacle is that not everybody knows about us and they and they don't know that we're year-round,” Greene said. “So people leave us at the end of summer and never come back until the next summer because they don't know–in spite of all of our signs and our brochures, people don't remember that we move inside.”
She said seeing everyone come out to the 12th anniversary leaves her with a sense of pride.
“I believe we're doing something really important for the economy, for the environment, for the people of Nanaimo, and it's them doing for us as well, so it's mutually beneficial,” she said. “So it's really nice to have the people that come here every week, hear about what's going on, and how important they are to us. We like to think that what we do is important to them as well.”
Colleen Gerbrandt is one of the vendors who has been selling at the market since the beginning. She sells handmade natural soap products through her company Island Rain Natural Soap. She said when she first wanted to start selling at the market, it was only selling food products.
“So soap vendors and crafters were not allowed,” Gerbrandt said. “But I had a four-hour interview with the market manager and after that point–because I grew up on my own botanicals–I was finally the first person allowed by you that wasn't a food vendor.”
Having been a vendor at the market for a while, Gerbrandt said she has seen the market grow and change over the years.
“It's been a real learning curve for a lot of people to come in and find their niche here,” she said. “But I've seen so many now that have you know, put out the effort, and now they're very successful and Nanaimo seems to love having choices.”
She said when the market first started, cash was the primary method of money transactions but over time vendors started introducing card systems such as a Square machine for people to use a debit or credit card with. She said one option for vendors who do not have their own card reader is to take Market Money which customers can purchase at the market booth with their debit or credit card.
While Gerbrandt said customers can purchase her products online at any time, the Island Roots Market is the only market she sells in person at. She said she loves the market and the community it brings.
“We have so many people that are regulars, and they love the market too,” she said. “We still find people that say they've never been here before, so we're growing after every day that we're open.”
Hilary Eastmure is a councillor for the City of Nanaimo and also a regular shopper at the Island Roots Market. She said she has lost track of how long she has been coming to the market but said it is a Nanaimo staple.
“Just to have the year-round farmer’s market is so special, and we just have so many amazing local growers and producers and artisans,” Eastmure said. “So just to be able to rely on that on a weekly basis is huge.”
She said she comes to the market about twice a month and loves that the market is in a very central area.
“So often I'll be driving by and remember how the markets are and then make a quick stop in here and get a few treats and carry on,” she said.
She said she mostly stops by for the sweet treats but will also pick up fresh local produce.
“For me, it's a lot about the treats, but of course, there's so many great veggies,” she said. “Last week, I picked some delicious carrots and tomatoes at this time of year like those real summer flavours. There's just so many options.”
She said it is important for there to be a farm-to-market option for those in the city to have a connection with where their food comes from.
“The island has so much potential for agriculture for growing things that don't grow anywhere else in Canada for a longer season,” she said. “So it does help us build that local food security as well because you have people supporting our local growers so that if we ever weren't able to get a steady supply of food from the mainland, supporting a market like this means that you're helping those local producers build a sustainable business.”
She said it is amazing seeing the market continue to grow and celebrate 12 years running which shows how sustainable and loved by the community it is.
“Honestly, I still feel like it's kind of a best-kept secret, like, I feel like a lot of people don't actually know that we have a year-round, weekly farmer’s market from three to 6 p.m.,” she said.
The Island Roots Market Co-operative runs every Wednesday at Beban Park from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. You can find it in the field beside Frank Crane Arena during the summer market and inside the Centennial Building during the winter market.
Funding Note: This story was produced with funding support from the Local Journalism Initiative, administered by the Community Radio Fund of Canada.