To Market, To Market… Not So Fast

In all of the coverage about the services affected by the current City of Toronto strike, the one thing we've all forgotten about is the Farmers' Markets. More concerned about daycare and garbage pickup, no one, including the City, has put much thought into events being held on city property.

We contacted Access Toronto this morning and here's what they could tell us.

City-run markets are definitely not running during the strike. This includes the Wednesday morning market at Nathan Phillips Square and the Thursday morning market at Metro Hall.

St. Lawrence Farmers' Market will definitely be running on Saturday, as it is an independently-run facility.

The rest of the markets on city property are a bit of a grey area. These are not "city-run" but are held in public parks, which are city property, and thus are subject to the standard permit requirements. Lists of affected services for parks don't mention markets, but simply say that no permits will be issued. However, markets generally apply for a permit for the whole season, not on a weekly basis.

Basically, the folks from Access Toronto have told me that the decision to open the market is pretty much at the discretion of the individual market organizers. Technically, the permits are revoked during the strike, but there are also no inspectors on duty to check for permits - the same way that you need a permit to have a BBQ in a park, but there's no one on duty right now to stop you from having a BBQ if you don't have a permit.

Note - market cancellations will not apply to any of the MyMarket markets such as Liberty Village, Sick Kids, etc. which are run separately.

If you're a market organizer, farmer/vendor or customer who can give us more information about specific markets, please let us know so we can keep everyone up to date on this issue.

Updates

Riverdale Farmers' Market will be running during the strike - on the boulevard on the north side of Winchester Street. Note - no washroom facilities available.

East York Farmers' Market will be closed.

Trinity-Bellwoods Market will be open today (June 23rd).

Even if the strike finishes, the market at Nathan Phillips Square will not run next Wednesday (July 1st) due to the Jazz Festival.

More Updates - June 24th

Withrow Park Farmers Market will be running as usual on Saturdays.

Markets in the Toronto Farmers Market Network will all be up and running - this includes Dufferin Grove, Wychwood Green Barns, Brickworks and others (participating TFMN markets are on the "About" page; the "List of Markets" page is all markets in the city). Note that Dufferin Grove cannot offer products from city support staff or services so there will be no snack bar and no on-site baking (ie. no bread from the on-site oven). Some of the larger MyMarket markets in city parks are still deciding if they will go ahead. More info as I get it.

With huge thanks to Roscoe Handford, Anne Freeman and Roberta Stimac.