The Stratford Farmers’ Market, established in 1855 and run under the auspices of the local agricultural society, bills itself as “one of the oldest markets in Ontario”. Its current location is in the Stratford Agriplex, part of the sprawling multi-use set of public buildings erected nearly 20 years ago, known as the Rotary Complex in the north end of Stratford. In spring to autumn, a dozen additional seasonal vendors set up under tents outside the Agriplex.
The Stratford Farmers’ Market is by no means the prettiest or grandest market around. There are fewer vendors now than the first time I lived in Stratford in the early 2000s and even in the pre-Covid-pandemic 20-teens years. But it’s ours, and it’s part of many Stratfordites’ Saturday morning routine. Some shoppers spend as much time chatting and catching up with friends, neighbours and former colleagues that they run into while in line to buy cheese or fruit or flowers as they do actually shopping. The market runs from 7 a.m. to noon and, if there’s something in particular you really want, you’re wise to get there in the first hour.
We all have our favourite vendors. Orval Zehr and family from Milverton provide eggs – large ones they raise themselves and sell for $4/dozen for large size, white shells. They also sell garden produce and other goods, but eggs are their mainstay. There’s Kountry Kitchen Cupboard, another Mennonite-operated stand and my go-to for maple syrup, sauerkraut and other homestyle preserves. Blackcreek Flower Farm, from nearby Sebringville, is a summer vendor for bouquets and gladioli stems sold 10 for $10. For two months when their glads are in season, there’s a vase of them each week on my kitchen island.
In the last couple years, a few more vendors have joined the market although most of the newer vendors focus on prepared foods and reflect recent immigration patterns to Stratford. De Varenyk sells prepared Ukrainian dishes and is the business of a woman who came with her family to Canada in 2022, fleeing the war in Ukraine. Tango Bites sells prepared Argentinian food.
There is a second seasonal weekly market in Stratford that began its life as a Slow Food Market – aligned with the principles of the Slow Food Movement that began in Italy in 1986, a reaction to the proliferation of “fast-food” restaurants in that country. I remember going to an early version of this market held in what was then the intriguingly arch-ceilinged basement of the Anything Grows garden store on St. Patrick Street in Stratford.
This market has evolved and is now promoted as the Stratford Sunday Market, held seasonally from mid-May to mid-October outdoors at Market Square behind City Hall, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. It no longer requires its vendors to be slow food adherents but there’s still that kind of chill, groovy vibe an outdoor market provides. Dogs sniff and greet. People get a coffee or nosh on lunch food, perching on the square’s picnic tables and seating areas. Some make this their primary grocery pickup, carrying totes to fill with fresh-baked bread, meats, eggs, vegetables, fruits and cheese.
One vendor, Mac Crummer, is there for maybe four Sundays at the start of this market’s season, selling herb and veggie seedlings including tomato plants, specializing in uncommon varieties such as Berkley Tie Die, Chocolate Stripes and a Ukrainian variety that (I think) is Olena. I planted one each of these in my little courtyard garden and there’s still some small ones ripening after a good summer’s harvest.
Farmers’ markets have expanded to sell more than farm products, be those dirt-covered veg, locally processed meats or locally harvested honey. For awhile, Shakespeare Brewing Company (from nearby Shakespeare, Ont.) was at the Saturday market, and sometimes Vodkow Distillery – whose home base is in eastern Ontario, 500 kilometres from Stratford – has a rep at the Sunday market.
But as many of us, including me, commit to #BuyCanadian in these challenging political times, there’s something relaxing about going table to table at our local market, knowing we don’t have to be deciphering tiny print on product labels to know that these products were grown or made by our neighbours. And that’s worth setting the alarm to start an early Saturday shopping day, in Stratford and in every Canadian community where farmers are willing to get up before dawn and set up to sell directly to their community.
