Producers of locally-made or grown products have launched a public awareness campaign to entice more people to discover why buying their food at farmers’ markets feels better.
The campaign, It Feels Better at the Farmers’ Market, is happening around the province’s 125 markets during the month of July.
Juhli Jobi, manager of Powell River Open Air Farmers’ Market, has been encouraging people attending to participate in the campaign’s #FarmersMarketSelfie contest, where people take self-portraits of themselves at the market, and post their photos to the BC Association of Farmers’ Markets (BCAFM) Facebook page.
They have their friends “like” their photo and the one with the most “likes” wins, she said.
The winner of the province-wide contest will win $500-worth of delicious goods and a Bernardin home canning set.
Voting on photos which best showcase the feel-good experiences of farmers’ markets runs until Saturday, July 21.
Scavenger hunts are also being organized to challenge children to visit different farmers selling produce to find items that are in-season that month, said Jobi.
“You can go shopping at the grocery store and that’s fine, but you can also shop at the market,” she said, stressing that the market offers families, including grandparents, the opportunity to spend quality time together.
“At our market we have the kids’ play area, bouncy castle and the train on Sundays,” she said. “There’s a lot of stuff for kids to do. It’s easy to make it enticing.”
The campaign also includes a series of entertaining videos showing why it feels better shopping at the market.
The market also offers a variety of community activities such as live music, cooking classes, artisan workshops and much more.
Jobi said that the market is doing well with revenue and attendance numbers are up more than 30 per cent from this time last year.
The market runs from 10:30 am to 12:30 pm on Saturdays and from 12:30 to 2:30 pm on Sundays throughout the summer.
“Over the last several years, we’ve seen a 62 per cent increase in the number of markets in BC,” said Elizabeth Quinn, executive director of the BCAFM. “There’s no doubt people are becoming increasingly passionate about buying local, in-season food and locally-produced goods. With this campaign, we want to build on this growing enthusiasm by reaching out to those who might not know that the markets offer much more than food—they offer an experience that feels amazing.”
For more information readers can visit the market’s Facebook page or the market’s blog which gives visitors a vendor schedule as well as other highlights.
