The Market Basket – Dufferin Grove Park

Dufferin Grove Farmers Market
Dufferin Grove Park, 875 Dufferin Street
Thursdays, year round
3pm – 7pm

For the past five years, Torontonians in the west end have had the benefit of not just a year-round market but also an organic one. Thursdays at Dufferin Grove are a regular meeting place for local foodies, farmers and chefs, where they can check out what’s new in local and organic produce.

Market organizer Anne Freeman explains how the market got started, “community members and the recreation staff at the park were interested in having a market, and three farmers who were coming into the city (to the Riverdale Farm market) were interested in a location that could host a market year-round, so our park (rinkhouse) buildings were an asset. The market grew from there.”

Five years later the market boasts almost 30 vendors in the summer with a not-too-shabby 18 taking part in the winter months. Ranging from a variety of produce vendors to folks like Chocosol (chocolate), Forbes Wild Foods, Best Baa Farms (goat cheese) and Deer Valley (Venison) Farm, the market also has an on-site bake oven that turns out some of the best breads and pizzas in the city.

Freeman says the focus on organic produce is for our health, the health of our farmland, and for the future of agriculture. And it creates a special niche specific to Dufferin Grove. “The products our vendors bring give people a special reason to come to the market, and people love supporting the work of these farmers.”

Visitors to the market in winter might be startled to see organic tropical fruit such as pineapple and kiwi available from some of the produce vendors. Freeman points out that while supporting local farmers and eating local produce is important to many people who frequent the market, “there's a very developed understanding among people who come a lot that while local always takes priority, we have to keep enough "action" at the market through the winter for it to be viable for the farmers and the customers to keep coming.”

“Working with a couple of farms that bring imported produce in addition to their own crops gives them income to be able to offer more than just seasonal employment to their farm workers, and the customers enough selection to make the trip, and also helps to support the meat, cheese, and honey producers and others who have year-round products to sell. It's not a case of not caring about local, it's a case of trying to find a way, in our climate, to give farmers the opportunity to build the year-round local supply, by offering a sales venue for more than just 24 weeks a year so that when the selection of local drops off, customers don't just go back to the supermarket and pretty much give up on local for the winter. It might not sound obvious, but the inclusion of some non-local has been a way to boost the sales of local products. Our produce farms are working hard to extend the number of vegetables they can offer at either end of the growing season and right up til the first spring crops come in, but we wouldn't have enough with these alone to feed everyone who wants to come to the market all winter. Our growing season is a challenge!”

The market is one that is very much focused on the food, and customers will not find too much other activity such as craft vendors or specific entertainment. But as the park is a very family-friendly one, there are always kids on the playground, or on the ice rink in winter, and the bake oven is a source of constant fascination for kids and adults alike.

The bake oven is also a source of one of the many snacks available at the market, where customers can try hot cinnamon rolls in addition to crepes, vegetarian soup, venison burgers and other treats. Some customers even make the selection of snacks into a dinner that can be enjoyed right in the park.

The Dufferin Grove website has extensive information about the market including a list of vendors and a notebook section where many vendors have included product information and photos of their farms. In just five short years, the Dufferin Grove market has become not only part of the immediate community in the Bloor and Dufferin area, but an important and positive part of Toronto’s larger foodie community as a whole.

Photos by Rebecca A. Pinkus, used with permission.