“‘Make it, bake it, grow it,’ is the motto of the Farmer’s Market. It’s a place to meet friends, bring the family and spend the morning together,” said Greg Unger, Manager of the Kamloops Farmer’s Market since 2017.
The market is non-profit and is sustained through vendor seasonal fees of $300.00. However, if a potential vendor just wants to try selling a product, there is a $40.00 drop in fee. Non-profits can attend three times for free depending on available space.
Performers are welcome, said Unger. “The market is for agriculture, but it is also a fun space with music themes such as the CD Saturday and the Fall Tomato Festival. Buskers are welcome to perform. It’s a place to meet friends,” explained Unger.
Fresh produce, baked goods, coffee, and crafts will again be available from Saturday, April 18 (8:30–12:30, 200 St. Paul St.) until the end of October. A Wednesday Farmer’s Market will commence On May 6 (8:30–1:30, 400 Victoria St.)
Over the winter months the Mount Paul Community Centre has housed the market on Saturdays from 10–2 pm, Unger noted.
The first Farmer’s Market was organized in 1914 by Kamloops City Council. The location was at Fourth and Victoria St. at the Plaza Heritage Hotel. There were 16 vendors in wooden stalls selling various produce until 1919.
The B.C. Association of Farmer’s Markets used the Kamloops Market as a model for how to set up additional farmer’s markets and conditions for what could be exhibited. There are now more than 100 markets throughout the province.
Around 1978 many organizations started to respond to the world food crises. In Kamloops, Ten Day for World Development (an ecumenical group comprised of the Presbyterian, Lutheran, United, Anglican and Roman Catholic churches) invited Argelia Tejada from the Dominican Republic to speak about concerns surrounding global food production.
Responding to Tejada’s analysis the Ten Days group contacted local farmers to see what could be done at the local level. Four local farmers accepted the challenge and initiated the Farmer’s Market promoting a local vibrant economic system, said Unger. Today there are two of the original farmers and one daughter — dedicated vendors — who are still participating in the Market.
In 1984 the Farmer’s Market expanded to include prepared food along with the fresh produce, so long as they kept to the motto, ‘Make it, grow it, bake it.”
In 1986 artisans first appeared at the Market due to public interest, however, the market would remain focused on food, and new rules with a wider view were needed.
First, fifty-one percent continue to be food venders and second, the crafters would be stationed in the school yard. Lee Laddorski, a knitter was the first crafter welcomed. She has just retired.
Food production has been important in Kamloops since 1890 when the Agricultural Association displayed not only livestock from nearby ranches, but also included farmers crops from the surrounding area and in 1913 an Agricultural Hall had been built in Riverside Park to exhibit produce and livestock.