St. John's Farmers Market gets keys to new home

The St. John's Farmer's Market Co-operative is now officially on the move after getting the keys to its new space.

The market began in 2008, and has been bursting at the seams in the Lions Club Chalet, forcing vendors and patrons alike onto the grass outside.

But after nearly a year of construction on the former Metrobus bus depot on Freshwater Road, the City of St. John's handed over the keys to the newly refurbished building on Friday.

"For all of us at the Farmer's Market Co-operative, this is just a dream come true. I'll be straight up about that," says Josh Smee, chair of the St. John's Farmer's Market's board of directors.

"We've been looking for a permanent home for the farmer's market for 10 years now, and hundreds of people have worked on this in one way or another it's an incredible feeling for all of us."

Growing market

The new building will give vendors and visitors more space seven times more space, to be exact and is fully accessible. Plus, a Wednesday evening market will be added to the co-operative's usual Saturday hours.

"It's going to be a really inclusive and welcoming public space for the city, and that's incredibly exciting."

A commercial grade kitchen and cafe have been added during the renovations, as well as many sinks and outlets for those setting up shop there.

Nasir Muhammad is in his fourth year at the farmer's market with his business Curry Delight. He said the market's old space was cramped and didn't have the capacity to run some of his equipment, so he's excited for the upgrade.

"It's been a challenge working there. It's been great, it's a good community market, but it was time for the market to come into a bigger space," he said.

"It can facilitate a lot of people, not just vendors, but customers so they can come and enjoy and relax it's going to be a good, exciting place to be."

The work on the new building was financed with the help of the municipal, provincial and federal governments, as well as community funding agencies.

St. John's provided $2 million through it's capital budget, while ACOA contributed close to $1.17 million, with another nearly half-million dollars from the province.

The grand opening of the new St. John's Farmer's Market is set for July 21.

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