The Market Basket – Metro Hall

Metro Hall Farmers Market
55 John Street
Thursdays, 8:30am – 2pm
May 29th – October 16th

One thing we know about farmers markets is that people want them to be accessible. We tend to go to the ones closest to us, as opposed to travelling across town. In the downtown core, more and more markets have popped up, not to serve people near where they live, but to attract office workers who will do their market shopping at lunchtime or during a coffee break.

The Metro Hall Farmers Market fills that niche exactly.

This is a smaller market in terms of the number of vendors and unlike many other markets, the focus here is primarily about the produce. With vendors like Andrew’s Scenic Acres, Hillsview Greenhouses, and Sovereign Farms, there’s a good cross-section of fruits and vegetables in season. The Howells from Brantview Apples and Cider also have a spot later in the year when their apples are ripe.

In addition to the produce vendors, there are a couple of flower vendors, a baked goods booth, plus tasty honey products from the folks at Staite’s Pure Honey, meats and sausages from Domenic’s in the airstream trailer, and this year, cheesemeister Gurth Pretty has a booth featuring wonderful Ontario cheeses.

While this is a straight-forward, no-nonsense market that doesn’t offer much in the way of craft vendors or activities for the kids (not a lot of kids hanging out downtown on a weekday morning), market organizers have recognized that the market can still be an event for shoppers and a stage at the west end of the square offers live music during lunch hour. A selection of snack vendors have also set up in the square and shoppers can choose a snack or lunch from Crepe It Up, Jan’s Caribbean Food and Snacks, or Grandpa Ken’s World Famous Back Bacon on a Kaiser.

Friends of mine who work in the nearby office towers say they were delighted when the city decided to add the market at Metro Hall late in the 2006 season and continue it over the following summers. When lunch breaks are short, the walk to the next closest market (Nathan Phillips Square on Wednesdays) can often take too much time, and vendors have told me they’re delighted with the response they’ve had.

If our goal in promoting local produce is to be achieved, putting that produce where people can buy it more easily is the way to go. Metro Hall Farmers Market makes local fruits and vegetables accessible to Torontonians who might otherwise be too busy to seek it out, and gives them a nice break at lunchtime once a week where they can enjoy fresh from the farm goodies without having to go too far.