Farmers' market starts work to find permanent home

The St. John's Farmers Market will re-open for the season in a few weeks, while work ramps up to find a new and permanent home.

The weekly market has been running out of the Lions Club chalet near Bonaventure Avenue for the last four years, and will start again for the season on June 1.

The market, though, usually has more vendors than the space of the chalet allows.

The City of St. John's capital works budget this year has set aside $50,000 for a community market plan and a feasibility plan.

"What we are doing first is [a] needs assessment to find out what are the long-term needs of the Farmers' Market and what do the residents of the city want from the farmers market over the long term," said Dave Jerome, a member of the board that runs the market.

That work is expected to be completed by the middle of the summer.

One of the potential sites for the market is the land currently used by Metrobus for its Freshwater Road depot. Metrobus has built a new headquarters in the Kelsey Drive business park.

"We're going to start looking at potential locations and the bus depot is going to be one, but we are not going to limit ourselves to just that. We are going to look at all possible locations in the city," Jerome said.

The Farmers' Market continues running each Saturday until just before Christmas.