The following is a letter to the editor of the Tribune Post:
The Sackville Farmers’ Market
Somebody once told me there is nothing divisive about Sackville. I hope they are right and that the current discussions about the Sackville Farmers’ Market are merely good natured community bantering. The problem seems to be that part of Sackville likes a larger and more open air farmers’ market (with the street shut to traffic) and another part seems to think it is ludicrous to shut the main highway through town every Saturday morning. I have to agree, with both sides.
My wife and I own and operate Nature’s Route Farm in Point de Bute, NB and we have been vending at the Sackville Farmers’ Market on and off going on five years. At first, I really liked the street being closed for the market. It gave more room for customers and their strollers, it gave a space for children to play and be children and it gave more space for vendors to sell their wares. The market grew, a lot. Unfortunately, it did not take long before the inconvenience of the street closure started to take its toll. It was clear from the first year that many people did not like closing one of our few main thoroughfares (and signed highway).
Over time this “division” grew and by the second year frustrated drivers were starting to pose a hazard to public safety. In 2010 we decided that we did not want to “take sides” or contribute to this “riff” and we went to the Dieppe Market for the street closure part of the season. In Dieppe I learned that we can sell almost as much in Sackville without the inconvenience of more travel and a much longer day… Let me say that again: The Sackville Farmers’ Market is a great place to sell produce and is filled with good people.
So, where do we go from here? There is a small initiative in Sackville to get the market off the street, in a long term, all year, shared facility. This is an onerous challenge. Ironically, the success of an expanded venue depends in large part on those who are frustrated with the street closure. To be successful we need more customers. If the market hopes to pay for a larger and more expensive facility along with the corresponding increase in management there simply have to be more people coming to the market.
Imagine a booming Sackville on Saturday mornings with a large farmers’ market, a bustling café and people coming from all over to enjoy our small town atmosphere while supporting our local businesses.
So, in 2011 our community needs to grow the market. We need to tolerate an inconvenience in the short term to make a long term solution feasible. We need to support the market so it can expand and “get out of the way”. If you would like to help or have comments, get in touch with us through http://naturesroutefarm.ca, contact the town’s Director of Tourism (Rebekah Cant at 364-4930 or r.cant@sackville.com) or simply come out and enjoy the market when it is in full swing in July or August.
Kent Coates, Nature’s Route Farm
Hi K&R
This is an excellent letter. Very balanced. Maybe it will make people sit up and take notice of both sides of the issue.
Thank you.
I am one who finds the road closure extremely annoying. Like you, I stopped going to the market when they started closing the street for this. I can’t understand why the market just doesn’t go around the corner to the RV parking lot on Lorne Street.
I had the exact same thought as you -that lot would be perfect.
Hi Christine,
Right now, the market is organized by the Bridge Street Cafe – and they are not interested in helping make it happen if it is not adjacent to their site. Unfortunately, we don’t have the organizational structure to move yet. There will be a whole new set of challenges (including insurance, market governance, weekly management) in a new site – and I really hope we (as a market and community) can make an arrangement that is better for everyone.
Ruth
Thank you for such a well written article. It really has related well to both sides and I hope a solution can be found soon. To add my two cents worth, as a mom with 3 little ones, it is very tricky to attend a confining indoor market and also frustrating to lose a large amount of vendors every fall. I would love to see a permanent facility where I can buy locally all year round and I would think that such an addition to our town would indeed attract customers from the outlying areas.