Sharing the ByWord - August 11th
Announcements:
Happy Farmers' Market Week from your Ottawa Markets!
Markets are a central part of Ottawa's rich history. The ByWard Market was founded in 1827 and has been running for 195 years! The Parkdale Market, Ottawa's second oldest market was founded in 1924 and will celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2024. Over the years, the products for sale have evolved to reflect the changes in our communities. Markets have also sprung up across Ottawa, reflecting the desire from our community members to take part in this rich tradition.
The Ottawa Markets team believes that markets build communities. We're bringing you exciting farmer-based content all week long to celebrate #FarmersMarketWeek!
The Ooh - Music, Arts & Streetwear Festival is coming back to the ByWard Market this Saturday from 12pm-8pm!
DJs, food, and dozens of pop-up vintage vendors - OOH WEE!
Follow Oohmasf on Instagram for more information!
Neighbourhood News:
BYWARD BOPS ALL SUMMER LONG! ✌️
Get ready for a thrilling market experience with new and returning vendors accompanied by weekly FREE public concerts that'll have you howling.
Ottawa Markets is bringing you stellar performances every Thursday from June to September in celebration of the new ByWard Night Market.
As part of the all new ByWard Night Market - Thursdays from 5-9!
🛍 Swing by York Street to shop the ByWard Night market.
🎤 Visit George Street Plaza for live performances.
🧱 Support ByWard's area businesses. Have a drink, enjoy the ambiance!
*Special thanks to our partners at the Ottawa Music Industry Coalition for their collaboration.*
TONIGHT! #ByWardBops presents:
🥁 @junkyardsymphony - 6PM-7PM
🎸 @jakuar.music - 7PM-9PM
Head to George Street Plaza in the ByWard Market to see these two awesome acts perform. The forecast is beautiful!
94.5 Unique FM Bingo is now available at Ottawa Markets!
We're happy to announce that we've partnered with Unique FM as a purchase point for their exciting weekly bingo! Stop by 55 ByWard Market Square to get your sheet of 4 bingo cards for only $5.00! (Cash only).
Play for your chance to win $1,450 every Saturday from 10 a.m. on 94.5 Unique FM!
Pop in at Parkdale:
The Pride Night Market at Parkdale is coming up!
Saturday August 20th 5pm-9pm
Venusenvy, Little Jo Berrys, Homo Phono, and Ottawa Markets are teaming up to bring you a night full of local artists, makers, music, small businesses, restaurants, bakeries and more!
Enjoy a night of shopping and snacking while listening to our DJs: DJdelpilar, Oknaledi, & Celestialbean.
Ottawa Markets is looking for 2SLGBTQIA+ makers and vendors !
The Parkdale Night Market Continues to grow!
Find out what all the hype is about. Stop by the Parkdale Market on Wednesdays from 5PM-9PM and fill your boots with local treasures.
Music in the Park is Back!
Community Spotlight:
As part of our Farmers' Market Week celebrations, we've coordinated with some market favourites to bring you a special Farmers' Spotlight series - Stories and exeriences straight from Ottawa's farmers!
We chatted with Travis and Allison of Mountain Road Farm from Wakefield, Quebec. Read more below about the their experience as market newcomers and why they decided to begin farming.
What do Farmers' Markets mean to you?
Farmers markets are a place where a local farmers, bakers, artisans, makers, etc. can go to meet and make their products and/or craft available to their community. Both farmer and patron benefit from markets like this, as the farmer is able to enter into an area of the market that may otherwise not be available to them, and the shopper has the opportunity to buy local produce straight from the grower. Often the items found at a farmers market were harvested just days or hours before they hit the market stall, which underscores what it means to have access to fresh, local food. Farmers markets can facilitate personal connections and bonds that benefit the farmer, the shoppers, and the community at large.
As a market newcomer, how has experience been?
We're actually in our second year of operations here at Mountain Road Farm. We started growing last spring and provided weekly CSA veggie boxes for 25 families in the Ottawa/Gatineau Region over the summer months. It went really well, actually better than we ever expected, so we decided to open up more shares this season and expand into doing a couple of markets. It has been such an incredible journey so far!
We're learning so much every day and we feel extremely lucky having been able to start this farm.
We're a husband and wife team, and neither of us come from farming backgrounds, so it was a real leap! We took courses and read so many books to prepare ourselves but the biggest learning has happened from just starting and doing it.
We love our work every day and fall asleep satisfied and exhausted most nights of the spring/summer/fall months/.
In the winter we slow everything right down and enjoy the calm and quiet, spend quality time with our family and try to enjoy all the outdoor activities we possibly can.
What was your motivation to get into the trade?
We wanted to get into farming for a few reasons. We were starting to become more aware of how the food system works and how our food is grown and produced. A lot of the practices being used by "big agriculture" weren't lining up with our values and ideals. We wanted to make a change for ourselves, for our family and for our surrounding community.
Another motivating factor was that we were ready for a lifestyle shift. We had spent a lot of our time on the hamster wheel of office and corporate jobs. Although those did serve us for a long time, it was becoming less and less rewarding. We weren't spending as much time with our young family as we wanted and our stress levels were pretty high. It left us searching for another way.
We wanted to set a good example for our kids and show them that you can change things, you can make a living doing what you love. We wanted them to know how to grow their own food and how to live more harmoniously with nature. We had always talked about moving to the country someday. We just ended up moving a lot sooner than we ever thought and left our jobs behind to start this new chapter.
If you were to start all over, is there anything you would do different?
I would not do a thing differently. I feel everything has unfolded beautifully so far. Even the really tough moments have taught us so much. We try to use those moments as learning opportunities and springboards to do better in the future. I wouldn't trade any of it!
Learn more about Mountain Road Farm on their website.
For more information, or to speak with a representative of Marchés d'Ottawa Markets, please contact:
Zackery Liberty, Communications and Events Coordinator, Ottawa Markets, zackery.liberty@ottawamarkets.ca.
