The final day of the North Bay Farmer's market ended the way it began, and stayed throughout much of the season, wet and dreary.
"The weather was a bit of a challenge this year, and the producers having a late start to the produce season just because of the weather, delayed some products coming out but otherwise we had a great year," says market manager Stephanie Booth.
As a vegetable farmer and co-owner of Field Good Farms in Cache Bay, Ryan Spence says he's not going to complain about this growing season, noting that some farmers had it much worse than he did.
"It was quite wet at the beginning of the season which had its challenges for sure. It stayed quite wet until the end of August and then we caught a bit of a break in September with some nicer, drier weather to wrap the season up," says Spence.
"We all do things differently as farmers. We grow 47 different crops, so some are going to do very well in years like this and they did, and some need a hot dry year and we didn't get it. So part of our approach is to always have some diversity as insurance because the weather is one thing we can't control," says Spence.
"Last season was a bumper crop for almost everything because on a dry year you can irrigate, but on a wet year you can't pull the water back out and get the sun."
Part way into the season, the poor weather forced Wayne Chalmers of Spring Hill Farms in Trout Creek, to temporarily layoff some of his workers. He says the weather at the end of September helped his business, but for some of the other farmers it was too little, too late.
"The sun and warm temperatures at the end of September helped a little bit. Anyone who had things in their greenhouses, it really helped. We need the heat. All that rain was just too much. For farmers who don't have greenhouses, by then, they were already done. It was a little late for most crops," says Chalmers.
"We still have a lot of squash, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, all the greens which I grow year round, and I think a few of the other farmers will have quite a bit of root vegetables and fresh greens. The season was a little below average but the sales were phenomenal at the market so that really helped. When you don't go home with a whole lot, it's a good day."
The board will meet and discuss what the vendors have to say about the season and ways to move forward.
"This year we're going to look at it and see if there's somewhere we could go that's a little more permanent, or are we going to have to look at building something ourselves? So we're going to really start looking at that and what the future is for the market," says Booth.
The market manager went on to say moving from its location beside the museum to Main Street for Summer in the Park worked for that one weekend, but it won't work on a regular basis.
"Logistically, to try and set it up every Saturday, between parking and vendor layout, it just wouldn't work to have it there every Saturday. I know the downtown would love us there and some of the vendors too, but it is not something we see ourselves doing on a regular basis."
The market opens May long weekend and closes Thanksgiving weekend. However, because Thanksgiving was early this year, farmers are left with extra produce they would normally still be selling at that location. As a result, the Farmer's Market board has decided to open the winter market ahead of schedule.
"Last year we had a two-week break and we started our winter market in November. All of the producers with their greenhouses are still producing and having three weeks with nowhere to sell that produce, it's financial hardship, all that product will go to waste. So the decision through the board is, we will start early and give them that venue," says Bond.
The winter market will run every Saturday for 28 weeks, starting October 21st at the North Bay Mall.
