The Fiddlehead Farmers' Market
Location(s)
Mike Clarke 604-886-3698
manager@fiddleheadfarmersmarket.com
"The Fiddlehead Farmers' Market" is a
community development project initiated by the newly formed 'Fresh Alternatives Society'. You can learn more on our website: www.fiddleheadfarmersmarket.com
Please forward this message on to people who you think might be interested in coming to the market.
We need produce for the market! So plant all of those freebie seeds that you picked up on Seedy Saturday and bring some of your extra veggies down to the market. Be a hero and help feed your community.
Here are the essential market details:
WHERE -- In the park behind the swimming pool in Upper Gibsons.
WHEN -- 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., every Saturday from June 16th till September 15th.
WHAT -- Local-only produce, arts, crafts, services, music, kids stuff and fun for all.
HOW -- a) We need volunteers! So if you're really excited about what this market stands for, and you want to do your part for the community, then come and join us. We need lots of hands and lots of inspiration. Everyone's a fiddlehead in their own way!
b) Become a vendor! It's easier than you think. No amount of produce is too small. Goods AND services (just check with us first). Seasonal membership is only $5 (this gets you insured) and the daily 'table' fee is also only $5. A reserved table spot (limited number) is $20 for the season.
There are three ways to vend:
i) Sell produce at the consignment table (drop it off and pick up your cash later – the market keeps 20% for members, 30% for non-members).
ii) Be a drop-in vendor (prepared food vendors must pre-register, but everyone else can come by 8:30 a.m. and hope to get a space. Produce vendors get priority placement, then food vendors, and finally craftspeople).
iii) Be a dedicated vendor with a reserved spot (vendors are selected based on product mix and balance as well as appropriateness of product in terms of market goals and themes).
There are three categories of vendor, each with slightly different application processes and roles within the market. These are:
i) Produce vendors
ii) Prepared food vendors
iii) Craft vendors
More detailed information on the application process and the various policies for each type of vendor can be found on the website www.fiddleheadfarmersmarket.com
Basically the vendor policy boils down to ‘the backyard gardener is king!’ and everything revolves around making the market fun, convenient and profitable for him or her.
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THE HEART OF THE MATTER
Okay, so what is this really all about?
This isn't going to be just some run-of-the-mill farmers' market where you buy a pair of earrings for your granny, eat a hot dog or two and then go home feeling satisfied. This is a market with a mission. This market has something to prove. This market IS the revolution. And if you help it along, it will change the face of the Sunshine Coast.
And how is that?
By bringing us together as a community in a dynamic context. By causing more food to be grown right here on the Coast. And by fighting for and fostering a local-centered economy of production and consumption.
The ironic thing about being alive today, the ennui of our age you might say, is that although ours is a world of wonders, of plenty, of prosperity, somewhere deep down inside we're all tormented by the three emotional problems of modernity: guilt, a sense of futility, and fear of what the future holds.
Oil wars, carcinogenic food, TV ad culture, global warming, global dimming, obese children, suburban sprawl, and a seemingly endless cycle of poverty and deprivation in the third world are things that we all contribute to in one way or another as we merrily go about our idyllic little lives here on Canada's marvelous Sunshine Coast.
Well, I for one am sick of feeling bad for living so well.
I want to do things differently and use my advantages to work towards a better vision of the future. I want to turn the guilt I feel at being a gluttonous consumer into a sense of pride at working towards a rational and sustainable future. I want to turn the sense of futility that I feel when I come up against corporate and governmental monoliths into a sense of empowerment by engaging my local community on a personal level. And most of all, I want to turn my fear of what the future holds for my children into a sense of hope that their quality of life will at least be as good as mine.
This is where the Fiddlehead Farmers' Market comes in. You can make a difference. You can change your community for the better, and by doing,so set an example for the rest of the world to follow.
So, please, take part in the market. Volunteer. Sell some small thing that you made yourself. Teach your neighbours what useful skills you have. But most of all, come on out and have fun, listen to the music, and enjoy the company of your friends.