East Gwillimbury Farmers' Market looking to change location

Oct. 10 will be last day for farmers' market at Lowe's Plaza

Yorkregion.com
Sept. 25, 2019
Simon Martin

The East Gwillimbury Farmers’ Market is wrapping up for the year Oct. 10 and it turns out that it will be the final time for the market to be at the Lowe’s Plaza at the corner of Green Lane and Yonge Street.

The market is on the lookout for a new location after vendors said they were forced to leave the current one after the Longo’s store opening.

Andon Arguirou from Back to Basics Farm has been at the market since it relocated to the plaza in 2014.

“I would be happy where the new location is,” he said.

Arguirou said the opening of Longo’s created a conflict.

“Ideally we would want something around this area,” he said. “We need a market close to Newmarket.”

Cory Kagan from the Strudel Duo has been at the market for several years. He would also like to see the market stay in the same area. “I would love if it went to the theatre parking lot at Yonge and Green Lane,” he said. “Moving it further away would be scary.”

It was much the same story from Emilio Spina from EFT farms. He hoped the market could move to a larger location.

“Usually moving it is a good thing,” he said. “I was thinking the Costco parking lot.”   

Mayor Virginia Hackson said as the plaza on the corner grows out there is less and less space for the market. 

“We have been very lucky to be a Fieldgate location for a number of years but I think there might be some better ones now in the town,” Hackson said.

In a report to council, the farmers’ market committee requested a location change in 2020. A number of challenges were identified with the current location of the market. They included limited growth potential as the market reached capacity around 24 vendors this year; poor visibility from Yonge Street and Green Lane; poor parking lot design making the market difficult to access; not being close to all communities in East Gwillimbury; the opening of Longo's, existing covenants at the plaza that restrict vendors; and issues with parked cars being left in the area where the market sets up on Thursday.

As for recommendations for the new location, the farmers’ market committee recommended the new market be located on property owned by the town in proximity to community amenities such as schools, parks and trails.

Back in 2010, Marjo Niemi, along with Bernice Anderson, led a group of volunteers in creating the East Gwillimbury Farmers’ Market at the civic centre in Sharon. While the market gained a foothold in the community, it became clear to Niemi in 2013 that it wouldn’t be sustainable, as the number of vendors and customers began to dwindle.

At the season ending stakeholders meeting, she convinced the group to change the date of the market to Thursday and the location to the Lowe’s Plaza.

May 1, 2014 was opening day at the new location and it was big success from the beginning. When the market’s year-end numbers were reported to council after the first year at the new location, it was clear the new location was a huge benefit. The average visitors per market day more than tripled from 233 in 2013 to 792 in 2014.