This year, the original Peterborough Farmers’ Market is celebrating 200 years of providing local produce to shoppers, supporting local farmers and small businesses, and creating community over the shared love of nutritious food.
To celebrate the milestone anniversary of one of Ontario’s longest-running farmers’ markets, a celebration will be held on Saturday, July 19, from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Morrow Park, where the market takes place every week year-round.
The event will include live music, vendor giveaways, a kids’ corner with games, and, of course, lots of market-fresh food and treats.
“This event is a celebration and a way to thank the community for supporting the market,” says Justin McMakin, the Market Growth Team Lead for the Peterborough Farmers’ Market, adding the event will “share the true appreciation that all the local farmers, bakers, and artisans have for every customer that spends their time and money at the farmers’ market.”
The roots of the Peterborough Farmers’ Market date back to 1825 when Peter Robinson brought over 2,000 Irish settlers to the region and set up a market square for commerce in the community of what was then known as Scott’s Plains, later finding a home in the town hall of the newly incorporated town of Peterborough. In 1890, the market then moved to the building that has since become the Market Hall Performing Arts Centre, before being relocated in the early 1950s to Morrow Park, which was then an agricultural fairground that had been gifted in trust to the City of Peterborough by the Morrow family.
Today, more than 50 regular vendors and an additional 10 occasional vendors continue to participate in the market, which is held outdoors at Morrow Park from May through October and moves inside the heated Morrow Building for the remainder of the year.
While the Peterborough Farmers’ Market is the city’s first farmers’ market, today it’s not the only one. A separate Wednesday downtown farmers’ market was launched in 1996, followed by a Saturday downtown farmers’ market launched in 2018 by local vendors who were ousted from the Peterborough Farmers’ Market after they objected to the presence of vendors reselling non-local produce.
“We have certainly changed the way we shop for our food in 200 years, but I think the farmers’ market is a staple in society,” says Kelly Carbajal, the owner of La Mesita, which has been a market vendor since 2010.
“Our farmers are the reason we can all put food on our tables. At the end of the day, the farmers’ market provides a place for friends and families to come together, to be a community, to make good food available and to grow together.”
When Kelly and her husband Chef Martin Carbajal first began operating as a market vendor, it allowed them to grow the business for their Mexican restaurant located in downtown Peterborough, though it has since become much more than that.
“There is such an incredible atmosphere and community,” says Martin. “You build relationships with your customers-relationships that do not happen at the cash register or self-checkout.”
“We have had the privilege of couples telling me they are engaged, they are pregnant, they have a new partner in their lives — even before they tell (about) their family members. We have watched families grow and children grow up. The market is more than a place to shop for local goods — it is a place where you connect with people and share your life and stories with them. The market is a place for families by families.”
Not only is it one of the longest-running markets in Ontario, but unlike many other farmers’ markets, it operates year-round. In fact, each year, vendors only take one week off during the Christmas holidays.
“Being able to participate in the market year-round supports our staff and our business during the slow months,” says Kelly, noting it helps the farmers they source from as well. “The market allows us to grow our customer base while at the same time supporting the various farmers in the area. We really feel that this is a symbiotic relationship. We try to use as many local products as we are able to in the restaurant.”
McMakin adds that operating year-round makes it easier for the hundreds of customers who come through the market each week to source locally grown produce.
“There are people that have been coming to the market Saturdays for 40 years, 30 years, 50 years, so if you took a six-month break each year, the market would not have been as sustainable,” he says. “By having it consistent and weekly for the year, that helps the community that shops there, and it helps the farmer with stability.”
These shoppers can be assured that all farmers and artisans they are purchasing from have been verified and have to reapply every year to ensure they are a small business, they use ethical farming practices, and they are working out of a regulated kitchen if they are making baked goods or other food products.
Further offering support back to the community, many individual vendors will donate any unsold food at the end of the market to Kawartha Food Share, which distributes the items to local food banks.
“If the community shows support just by going to the farmers’ markets, we’ll get more vendors, we’ll get more produce, and hopefully we’ll be able to actually donate even more to Kawartha Food Share,” says McMakin. “It’s an ecosystem — our own Peterborough and area ecosystem.”
To ensure the Peterborough Farmers’ Market remains a community staple for the next 200 years, McMakin is aiming to reach a larger audience of young families by using the market’s website and social media channels to provide tips and information on farming and food nutrition and to share recipes from vendors.
“I want to go around and interview the farmers or the people that make the preserves and collect the lost wisdom that our grandparents’ generation knew,” McMakin says. “I think the market is an incredible opportunity to be an educational platform for food security and food awareness.”
But before thinking about the next 200 years, the Peterborough Farmers’ Market will be celebrating its previous two centuries with a family-friendly celebration on Saturday, July 19.
The event will include a kids’ corner with face painting, a petting zoo, and other activities meant to inspire and educate on harvesting and farming practices. There will be local musicians, surprise guests, and draws for gift baskets filled with more than $100 of products from market vendors. The first 250 guests who RSVP to the event will receive a goodie bag valued at $30.
There will also be product giveaways from the vendors and freshly made treats using the kitchen at Peterborough’s All Saints’ Anglican Church, with leftovers being donated to Peterborough’s Food Not Bombs, which serves free meals to anyone who needs them.
“Two hundred years is no small feat — you do not achieve this without doing something right,” Kelly points out.
“You have to do something really special to celebrate this huge milestone. After all, it only comes along once. To be a part of this makes you realize that you are truly a part of an amazing history, and it’s quite an extraordinary and humbling feeling.”
For more information on the 200th anniversary celebrations and to RSVP, visit farmersmarketpeterborough.com/200th-anniversary-event/.
