Summerside -
Summerside's farmers market is all grown up.
This June, the market will be two years old, and it's already established a devoted following.
But Arthur Davies, who was elected the market's new chair last weekend, said some area residents still don't know what it has to offer.
"We believe we have a good thing here. For so many things, we have to go to Charlottetown and it's like we're not grown up enough to have our own things," Davies said. "Now we have our own market and it's as good as Charlottetown's and, I would say, better because it's ours. We don't play second fiddle at all."
Better advertising will be the board's priority for the coming summer. It wants everyone to be aware of the market and what it offers, Davies said.
"The market is a dream come true, but it's a lot of work. It's like a marriage. You get out of it what you put into it," he said "We just have to change the mentality of some people in Summerside to let them know, 'This is yours.'"
The board recently simplified the market's name, changing it from the Spring Street to the Summerside Farmers Market.
The idea of opening an extra day during summer has also been considered, but Davies said it's difficult for vendors who work to get the time off.
There is, however, a waiting list of booths to fill the market this summer.
"It seems like ages ago that we were struggling in the Shipyard Market. The idea of a farmers market just wasn't there - Summerside had lost its farmers market culture," Davies said. "You need people to be able to get up on a Saturday morning and not even think about where they're going, it's just what they do."
Even on "slow" weekends this past winter, the market still draws a good crowd of regulars who come to socialize and buy locally produced food and crafts.
Davies said the market isn't trying to compete with large chain grocery stores like Sobey's and the Atlantic Superstore.
He feels it's the other way around.
"We have nothing to compete with because they can't provide what we have. We have something unique so it would be more that they're trying to compete with us in trying to stay local," he said. "We've started to develop a culture, we really have. You only have to come here and stand (in the market) on a Saturday morning. There are some people that are sitting in the same place every weekend."
