Saturday, May 23 is Opening Day for the Bradford Farmers’ Market – but don’t expect to be able to head out with a shopping bag, to browse through vendors’ displays and mingle with other shoppers.
The Bradford Farmers’ Market has gone virtual.
Market manager Laura Vree explained that the Bradford Farmers’ Market has partnered with localline.ca to create an online marketplace, where shoppers can register to see the catalogue and a long list of products offered by market vendors, and place their orders.
Right now, those vendors include 27 Country Market-Speziale Fine Foods, Say Cheese, Innisfil Creek Honey, Springh Farms, and bakeries Sweet Annabella’s and The Polish Chef.
“We’re probably going to have Homestead Farms in a little while,” Vree said, as well as Everything Maple & More, Lakeview Gardens, The North Side Catering, and Lake Simcoe Coffee.
Right now, there are six pages of products that that are available – from date squares, apple pies and butter tarts, to bee pollen and wildflower honey, Mennonite Summer sausage, meat pies, perogies, pretzels, tomato plants and herbs.
The idea is that shoppers will place their orders online – and then on Saturday, head to the “usual” location (the east parking lot at the Bradford West Gwillimbury Public Library), to line up in their cars, follow the arrows, and pick up their orders.
“All they have to do is pop the trunk, and we’ll put their order inside,” said Vree, explaining that it seemed the best way to provide a farmers’ market in the midst of COVID-19.
Traditional markets use a lot of volunteers, creating more potential for exposure – both for the volunteers and for customers.
“I’m very nervous about shopping right now,” she said, and worried about contracting the novel coronavirus. “I don’t want to bring this home.”
It’s a concern shared by other shoppers, who appear to appreciate the efforts to reduce exposure. Just six hours after posting the information that the Bradford Farmers’ Market would be going online, “we’ve already had 160 customers sign up… and 24 orders received,” Vree said.
She is still hopeful that sometime later this summer, it will be possible to re-open the regular farmers’ market at the library – although with social distancing, and possibly limits on the number of shoppers allowed in at one time.
The question is when. Vree said she would like to see a regular market before the end of June, but acknowledged, “We don’t really know when this is going to let up.”
So, for now shoppers are invited to browse the market’s Facebook page, or register online at localline.ca (click here) to do their shopping, then come out to the ‘market’ on Saturday morning to pick up their orders. Just a note: some vendors do have a minimum order.
Localline.ca, a Kitchener-based company, is providing an online presence for more than just the Bradford Farmers' Market. Markets from Penticton in British Columbia, to Prince Edward Island are using the platform, to connect shoppers with local producers during the pandemic.
