Posted by Sheryl Kirby in market basket on June 30, 2008 at 7:51 am

Sorauren Park Farmers Market
Sorauren Park, Sorauren Avenue south of Dundas street West
Mondays, 3pm - 7pm
May 26th to October 27th

The key to a successful farmers market? Ensuring that the community is onboard and that there will be enough customers to make it worthwhile. So the idea of setting up a market at Sorauren Park on Monday afternoons, when 300 kids (and their parents!) are in the park for soccer was a truly brilliant bit of marketing.

The Sorauren Farmers Market is another of the newbies this year, having held their first market day on May 26th. Prior to that, organizers had a couple of prepared food vendors set up in the park on Mondays to create a buzz with the soccer families. The close proximity of the Wabash fieldhouse provides washroom facilities as well as kitchen and dishwashing facilities, a boon for any market with the goal of being zero-waste, as this one is.

The market has a very specific set of guidelines that determine vendors, wit ha focus on local and sustainable, with organic practices if not official organic status. Organizer Janna Lüttmann explains the concept, “The recipe in mind was a wide diversity of farm fresh produce and other products that are either 'certified organic', are produced using organic methods, or that adhere to sustainable farming standards for the community. We wanted to offer a full range of local and organic food following the principle ‘the closer the better’.

“We felt that a good selection of prepared foods featuring locally-grown and processed ingredients was important for residents and families who want a healthy dinner option while attending soccer games that are taking place in the park in the first weeks of the market season," she says. "At the same time we were committed to working with farmers and organizations such as FarmStart to develop a market that promotes new farmers and small, local and sustainable producers. This meant moving away from a fully certified organic market, because such a market would for example have meant turning away new farmers that have not been able to receive organic certification, as well as urban farmers and wild food crafters, who usually can't receive certification despite adhering to or even exceeding organic standards. Acknowledging the importance of rigorous regulations, to ensure that imported fruits and vegetables would not be bought at the Ontario Food Terminal and passed off at farmers' markets as local produce, we created our own set of vendor guidelines.”

Participating vendors include many folks who show up at other local markets, such as Sosnickis Organic Produce, The Local Cafe (prepared foods with mainly local ingredients) and Forbes Wild Foods, but also include some unique participants such as South Etobicoke Organics (backyard produce from organic gardens in Etobicoke), Guerilla Gourmet (teas, prepared foods from local and wild products), Merrylynd (grains, flour, noodles) and Field Sparrow Farm (grass fed beef). Lüttmann expects a total of about 20 – 25 vendors at peak season and is looking to add a poultry farmer and a fruit farmer to complement to current list.

With so many people in and around the market to take part in the soccer games, prepared foods are a big part of the attraction, with items such as calzones, crepes, sweet treats and even a special grass-fed burger event taking place last week. Non-food vendors are not really a part of the Sorauren market, although there is one vendor selling tea towels and tank tops made from organic cotton and silkscreened with local edible weeds. There’s also an additional table reserved for neighbourhood groups and fundraising.

Entertainment is a part of the market every week, with local musicians taking part, and there is also weekly programming with a food theme and plans for seasonal events such as harvest festivals, pumpkin carving and more.

With plans to eventually open a co-operative grocery store, the farmers market is really just the first step for the West End Food Coop, who hope to eventually be able to supply the neighbourhood with sustainably-grown organic food year-round. In the meantime, the market has quickly become an important part of the local community, and Monday nights at Sorauren Park aren’t just about soccer anymore.