Ranging from freshly baked treats and handmade crafts to everything in-between, the Red Deer Farmers’ Market is gearing up for another successful year.
Surprisingly enough this year things at the Market At Red Deer are shaping up a little differently as they have temporarily relocated to the Memorial Centre parking lot beside Lindsay Thurber High School.
The move follows the news that Red Deer was chosen to host the 2019 Canada Winter Games and the new arena is being constructed where the market is usually held. Of the 40 plus years that the Red Deer Farmers’ Market has been running, 36 of those years were spent at the old location so a change could prove some getting used to.
Dennis Moffat is the owner and operator of the market and says one of the drawbacks of the new area is the slightly smaller space available for the market. He did stress that despite the smaller space, the market is moving to the most ideal space available.
“I looked at many, many locations but this seems to be the best one for everyone concerned. There were problems in every other location I looked at and the only other suitable one was way out of town,” said Moffat.
Moffat also added that returning vendors will be given slightly more priority then new merchants and ensured that they are doing all they can do with what they have been given.
“We’ll do the best we can, it’ll just be a little bit harder to get into the market from now on and you’ll have to wait your turn. What we have to do is look after the people who have been vendors in the past, once we get them situated then we can look after new people.”
Moffat added for new vendors it might be best to wait a couple weeks before setting up. He clarified the first couple weeks will be about taking the time to make certain every returning vendor is taken care of. One way that he is ensuring both new and returning merchants will be taken care of is by nailing down every minute detail of the new market – he has been doing this for the past six months.
The new location will be put to the test on May 21st as the first Farmers’ Market of the season takes place.
