THE WEST END FARMERS MARKET
A Block Full of Local Produce, Crafts, and Beverages

By Jerrison Oracion
(click images to enlarge)

The best and highest quality products are often made locally. They are made either with sourced ingredients or brought in straight from the farm.

welcome to the West End Famers Market. *(Jerrison Oracion Photos)*

New companies often sell their goods in local stores and farmers markets to allow customers to sample and review their wares. Also, the community comes together and gets involved in the sunny atmosphere when a farmers market happens.

There are several farmers markets in Vancouver that have been operating since 1995, including The West End Farmers Market. Located on the Comox side of Nelson Park between Bute and Thurlow, Saturdays find the street filled with booths selling produce, bakery goods, specialty items, snacks, and artisan creations. There are also spots to visit with other shoppers, have a bite to eat, and enjoy the music of local performers.

The West End Farmers Market began with a small number of booths and now fills the entire block. Some of the booths are businesses that travel to other farmers markets in the province, while there are some vendors who have been attending the market since it opened and can only be found here.

For instance, there is BobAli Foods where they sell different flavours of hummus and pesto made with no preservatives. They offer samples of their hummus to market-goers.

Locals and visitors enjoy shopping in the open air and sunshine.

“It's a beautiful location and I like to see the different kinds of people who are downtown, compared to like East Van or in Whistler”, said the attendant at the BobAli booth.

Blue Comet Seafoods — where they have been selling wild and sustainable Ocean Wise seafood for over 17 years — is on the other side of the street.

“It's the demographic of the customers. They're happy-go-lucky. They're friendly. We have a dog park here so we can watch the dogs play all day. It's a great market. It's just gotten larger and larger and has more variety of vendors and products,” said the Blue Comet vendor.

Buying local products not only benefits the businesses but also the local economy. Neal Harkins, owner of Rootables Chips, is the culinary chef at the Whistler Convention Centre and lives in Vancouver.

Neal hand-makes kettle chips in small batches using local Kennebec potatoes. He is hoping to sell his chips with more retailers.

One of his gourmet kettle chip flavours is White Truffle, which would be a great pairing with the hummus from BobAli Foods. Possibly, Rootables could be a local chip success story in Canada.

There are also bakeries at the farmers market like Ça Croustille, Ritchie’s Bakery, and Cookies by John. John has been selling his cookies and other desserts, including a cheesecake bar, since the market opened.

Joseph, one of the people managing the booth for Forstbauer Natural Food Farm, has relatives working at another nearby booth for Klippers Organic Acres. “I see the same faces here every day and it's always welcoming and I love coming,” Joseph said.

Brodie (left) and Carolyn serve customers at the Ernest Ice Cream booth.

Earnest Ice Cream is one of the more popular local ice cream companies in the Lower Mainland. Carolyn and Brodie have worked for the business for a few years but this is their first year using their food truck at the farmers market. Their products are made with local and responsibly sources organic ingredients.

“We have very loyal customers,” Carolyn said. “Our ice cream is different, I think because we use a high milk fat and slow churn, so the quality of our flavors is just very, very good,” she added.

The West End Farmers Market is an amazing showcase of local products in the middle of a bustling downtown community. You can discover for yourself, if you haven’t already, any and every Saturday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. until October 28.