Winnie Czulinski –
Traditional farmers’ market or alternative community market? Downtown East boasts a distinctive half-dozen. The larger markets have meat, cheese, eggs, baked goods, prepared foods, wine, etc. – as well as fresh produce. (Check their websites, Facebook and Instagram pages.)
Cabbagetown Farmers’ Market
Riverdale Park West
191 Winchester St.
Tuesdays 3–7 p.m. from May 14 to October 22.
www.cabbagetownmarket.ca/
* Up to 30 vendors in a beautiful treed setting next to Riverdale Farm and Simpson House, a Victorian-style farmhouse (public washrooms on the ground floor).
* A project of the Riverdale Urban Farming Inc., they assist those who produce, prepare and promote local sustainable food products.
* Founded in 2001 as Riverdale Market, Toronto’s first organic market, by late Cabbagetown food activist Elizabeth Harris. It closed in 2015, but was resurrected by the local community.
* Collects fresh-food donations for Mothers of Peace, a Regent Park anti-violence organization.
Our Fair Share (Dixon Hall)
Outdoors at 190 Carlton Street; indoors at 188 Carlton in inclement weather.
Offered biweekly on Thursdays: August 15 and 29; September 12 and 26, from 3 p.m. until it’s sold out.
www.dixonhall.org/media-centre/our-fair-share-farmers-market/
* A program of the Dixon Hall multi-service care agency, Our Fair Share is an “affordable and equitable” pay-what-you-choose (PWYC) community farmers’ market.
* Dixon Hall collaborates with FoodShare’s Good Food Markets and other organizations to bring seasonal, local produce and imported staples.
* Shoppers may donate to someone else’s basket.
* Planned: live music, family activities, refreshments and free resources on healthy eating.
St. Lawrence Farmers’ Market
Saturday Farmers’ Market: 125 The Esplanade
St. Lawrence Market, Tuesday-Sunday, 95 Front Street East. www.stlawrencemarket.com/
* Approximately 50 Saturday vendors; another 61 tenants in the general market.
* Established in 1804, the farmers’ market has run weekly since then. Saturdays from 5 a.m.–3 p.m. in the Esplanade’s “Temporary Tent.” Will return to the new North Market building at 92 Front Street East when it’s completed.
* Multi-instrumentalist singer/songwriter Loreena McKennitt busked outside St. Lawrence Market in the 1980s before selling 14 million records worldwide.
Little Trinity Good Food Market
425 King Street East
Wednesdays, 5–7 p.m.
Outside Little Trinity Anglican Church, the city’s oldest surviving church (1844)
* Part of the FoodShare food justice organization, creating markets and food accessibility. It’s a Good Food market, geared to lower-income residents but open to all.
* Offers “Pay It Forward” action, a payment system of $1 ‘heart’ tokens for others to use. Plus donations of ‘Provisions by Valerie’ – nutritious add-hot-water meals in a light box.
* Entertainer Dr. Ben, a musician and travelling doctor to almost 100 rural communities across Canada. August 21.
* the bridge article (February 2024) by Little Trinity’s Rev. Karen Koiter.
Underpass Park Farmers’ Market
29 Lower River Street
Thursdays 4–7:30 p.m. from May 23 to October 17.
www.underpassparkmarket.com
* A market under an expressway, beneath the overpasses of Adelaide Street, Eastern Avenue and Richmond Street in the West Don Lands.
* Established by St. Lawrence/city advocate Suzanne Kavanagh in 2017 as a volunteer-run, not-for-profit community market.
* the bridge wrote about market vendor First Fish (Canadian Arctic fish, with sales supporting Inuit fishers on Baffin Island) in February 2024.
* A “neighbourhood lounge” with card/board games and live music amidst the park’s playground, trees, and public art and murals in formerly neglected urban space.
Moss Park Market
260 Queen St. East
Saturdays year-round, 11 a.m.–3 p.m.
www.buildingroots.ca/projects/moss-park-market/
CLOSED, ALL AUGUST 2024, re-opening on September 7, 2024.
* Resource capacity necessitates new membership system based on catchment area of Jarvis/Parliament/Dundas/Richmond Streets.
* Canada’s first fresh-food market in a shipping container! Covered by CBC, CTV, the Globe & Mail and the National Post – and the bridge in March 2024.
* An initiative of food advocacy organizations Building Roots and Growing Neighbourhoods Foundation, founded in 2013.
* Market is PWYC (pay what you can), and runs on food donations: produce from sources like Ashbridge Estate Urban Farm, Friends of Allan Gardens, X University Urban Farm, Homestead TO, and rooftop gardens of Metropolitan University; bread and baked goods from local businesses.
* New in 2024 – a resurrected community garden on the market site
* Local artists, advocates, and live music.
* Neighbourhood resources, and programs like Book Share, Coffee and Conversation.
Photos courtesy of Bill Perry, St. Lawrence Market, and Winnie Czulinski
