At age 150, Kitchener Market thrives due to urban setting
Today, the Kitchener Market celebrates 150 years connecting rural farmers with urban customers. While the Market site has changed within the area bounded by King, Frederick, Duke and Scott streets, after a century-and-a-half it's enjoying some of its best days.
In the 1830s, groups of vendors – mostly from the Mennonite community of surrounding farm areas – were congregating in the city centre to sell their goods before the first market building along Duke Street was erected in 1869. The Market expanded behind Berlin Town Square in 1872 and then was rebuilt facing Scott Street in 1907. In 1973, it was re-configured within the Market Square shopping centre and finally re-built in its current iteration facing King Street in 2004.
Healthy food, social purpose
Despite online shopping, an extensive network of grocery stores, community-shared agriculture programs, meal kits and smartphone food apps for ordering dinner to your door, farmers' markets have maintained their relevance and grown in prominence in recent years. If you've spent any time at a farmers' market, you'll agree that they provide access to affordable healthy food and build a sense of community too.
"Markets are hugely popular and growing in popularity," according to Kitchener Market manager Kim Feere. "There's a social aspect as well, at the same time people are conscientious about their fitness and what they're eating."
Visitor numbers to the Market continue to grow, Feere adds. Though she describes it as a significant undertaking, the Market has been tracking the numbers of customers visiting each Saturday over the last several years. On average, visitors coming through the doors have increased each year, with the exception of 2015 which Feere says was due to downtown construction. Between 6 a.m. and 3 p.m., there are roughly 11,000 people visiting the 80-90 market vendors downstairs and the food stalls on the upper level each Saturday.
"What I have noticed is that the people are very much aware of what kind of food they are eating and what's available in terms of different kinds of food culturally," Feere says. "It's a gathering place, but, as well, people love to be able to talk to the farmer who grew the food."
Urban means accessibility, continuity
The changing demographics and the population density in the core have resulted in more customers, and a wide range of customers from varied cultural backgrounds, visiting the Market. "More people live in the immediate area or are on an LRT (transit) route. And more people are walking or riding a bike to the Market," she says.
Like the Hamilton Farmers' Market, the Kitchener Market is a highly urban market and that, Feere says, makes it unique. "There's so many different aspects and offerings within an urban market, and it's accessible to people," she says citing the "incubator kitchen space," as one example, that supports local small food businesses.
When you look at the photographs on the timeline that's on display upstairs, you'll see images of the Market's history with the bustling horse-and-buggy era of the 1800s and the massive automobiles vying for space with outdoor vendors in the 1950s. Compared to the car congestion of today, I got a sense that a market mirrors the changing demographics and infrastructure of a community and provides historical continuity. At the same time, I believe a farmers' market can change people's interaction with their community and infrastructure, while people can change the farmers' market as they use it.
"When you think about the number of people walking and cycling to get here today, that's one significant change," Feere says. "You can see the camaraderie in the older pictures, and today there is programming and interaction for the entire family."
The Kitchener Market will have extended hours of 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday. On a first come-first serve basis, visitors could receive a free re-usable cloth produce bag from a limited supply and have a chance to buy a thermal-insulated grocery cart at a reduced price of $20. There are a number of events planned including live music, cooking demonstrations, a corn roast from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m and a licensed area for beer and cider.
For more information, visit https://clicktime.symantec.com/3K824MgkEMHzTdkaweXAuZQ7Vc?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.kitchenermarket.ca%2Fen%2Fevents%2FHarvest-Festival.asp