July 8, 2013 Downtown Farmer's Market Post Update. Thursday morning I phoned The Oshawa This Week newsroom and was very fortunate to speak with Steve Houston, Feature Editor about the Downtown Farmer's Market. After listening to what I had to say, Steve set out to help me solve this situation. The first action taken by Steve Houston was to make sure that The Downtown Farmer's Market was posted on the online section of the newspaper under community events and contains a link to my blog featuring the Oshawa Downtown Farmer's Market. The farmer's at the Downtown Farmer's Market will be promoted online each week over the summer months thanks to Steve. The second action recommended by Steve Houston was a phone call to Oshawa City Hall. He even gave me the name of a person to contact at city hall. The newspaper is very fortunate to have such a dedicated employee. It was a real pleasure working with Steve. Thanks, Steve. I contacted David Tooley at Oshawa City Hall and David was also very helpful. He is going to investigate the situation and get back to me sometime this week. I will update when I hear from David Tooley from Oshawa City Hall.
Original Post July 4, 2013
A couple of days ago I was searching the internet for the operating times of a farmer's market in the north of the City of Oshawa when I discovered there was a downtown farmer's market. I decided to check it out on my Wednesday morning walk. The City of Oshawa Downtown Farmer's Market is located on the east side of the historic Regent Theatre in an open public space. To my surprise there were only two farmer stalls and one gourmet epicurean stall.
While chatting with them, it came to my attention that no one is promoting them and few people are aware of the City of Oshawa Downtown Farmer's Market. The City of Oshawa, the Oshawa Business Association, and the local newspaper, Oshawa This Week are not promoting the local farmers at the Downtown Market. Just last night, the Wednesday Edition of The Oshawa This Week had a special pull-out section on "50 Things To Do In Durham Region" with a section on local farmer's markets. The Downtown Farmer's Market was not mentioned. If you are a local in Durham Region, please support our farmers by letting your friends and family know about the downtown farmer's market. They have great fresh Ontario grown fruits, vegetables, herbs and spices. I bought delicious Ontario Strawberries for my dinner dessert, a beefsteak tomato, and some Royal Gala apples. They were all delicious.
The farms represented at the downtown market were Willowtree Farm from Port Perry (www.willowtreefarm.ca) and Vetzals Fruits and Veggies from Newcastle (farmer.tim79@gmail.com). The epicurean is Karen Peacock, Epicure Selections (spicechick@live.ca or http://karenpeacock.myepicure.com/). Here are a few pictures.
Vetzals Fruits And Veggies
Epicure Selections
Willowtree Farm
East Side Of Regent Theatre