VENDOR SPOTLIGHT

Keep an eye out for our Vendor Spotlight feature! Every week we are endeavouring to bring you short interview segments from your favourite vendors to help you learn more about them and answer any burning questions you might have!

This Week: Homemade by Harris

This is the owner of Homemade by Harris – Justina!

Keep tabs on them on their website here! Or follow them on Instagram!

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How did your business start?      

Homemade By Harris launched September 2021. I had been working in the baking industry for years but found I really loved decorating cookies and wanted to focus more on that. It had always been a dream of mine to have my own bakery and with a lot of encouragement from my family and friends I decided it was finally time to go for those dreams!

What is your favourite product that you sell and why?

I love making my decorated sugar cookies because I can turn one recipe into so many different things. Every order is unique and I love all the themes/ideas for cookie sets that my customers bring me. I offer 3 recipes: Classic, Vegan, or a Gluten Free and I’m hoping to add some different flavours to the menu soon!

What is your favourite part about selling at farmers markets?

My favourite thing about being at farmers markets is that I can try out new ideas and techniques for cookies that I may not have been able to do on a custom order yet. And of course meeting all the wonderful customers and other vendors. It’s been a lot of fun and I’m looking forward to the rest of the season.

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Thanks, Justina and team! We are so excited to have you with us this season!

VENDOR SPOTLIGHT

Keep an eye out for our Vendor Spotlight feature! Every week we are endeavouring to bring you short interview segments from your favourite vendors to help you learn more about them and answer any burning questions you might have!

This Week: Brownie Bakers

Keep tabs on them on their website here! Or follow them on Instagram!

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How did your business start?      

The Brownie Bakers started in May 2020. My mom and I had just moved back from Toronto a few months prior and shortly after arriving I was laid off from the job that had relocated me back to Vancouver. I tried looking for a job for a few months but no one was hiring as it was the beginning of the pandemic. I saw a lot of home based bakery accounts pop up on Instagram and noticed that there were a lot of cookie, cake, and bread companies but no brownies. So I started The Brownie Bakers instagram account for fun and to see if anything would come of it.  We started attending farmers markets and doing lots of corporate catering and online orders. In March 2021, we launched our Brownie Mobile (our little trailer) and had an extremely busy summer catering for private events, movie sets, parking in different neighbourhoods across the lower mainland. and farmers markets. Last month we upgraded to a 17’ food truck!

What piece of advice you would give to someone considering starting their own business? 

Go for it! Start small and go from there. If you never try it out, you’ll never know. Secondly, support other small businesses! Make connections and friendships and help each other out. I’ve found countless new contacts, suppliers, and events etc. all from friends I’ve made in the industry. 

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Thanks, Brownie Bakers! We are so excited to have you join us this season!

Our Annual General Meeting is Sunday February 20!

The New West Farmers Market Society is hosting our AGM at 11am on Sunday February 20 (virtual meeting).

Market members are invited to join us to hear about how things went in our 2021 season and the exciting plans ahead in 2022. We will also elect our 2022 Board of Directors.

Members: to attend the meeting or to put yourself forward for nomination to the Board, please email board@newwestfarmers.ca for the virtual meeting link and more info.

Only members in good standing (membership dues paid) are eligible to attend.

We are proud to announce that are 2022 Vendor Applications are now open! Please apply here. If you have any questions please contact us at info@newwestfarmers.ca.

Thank you!

We are so excited to be hosting our our second annual Holiday Food + Artisan Market!

Join us December 11 + 12, 2021 from 10am-4pm both days in the parking lot in front of New West City Hall!

Grab last minute gifts, stock your table for the holidays, and have a fantastic holiday experience while shopping local.

Join us for over 85 vendors including food, alcohol, and artisans plus food trucks! We will also have live music from 6 different musicians and free holiday kids crafts at the Sprout Club table!

Entrance is by donation to support disaster relief for the Fraser Valley.

New this year we are proud to offer an opportunity for 6 marginalized food or craft vendors to apply for a holiday market scholarship. The intention of this scholarship is to provide more opportunities for vendors who face barriers in bringing their products to market in the pursuit of equity and inclusion. As a community market it is important to us that our market accurately reflects our community and so we have 6 opportunities available for self-identified marginalized vendors to have their stall fees, membership fees, and insurance fees covered for this weekend market (approximately $225 value) to make this a more accessible opportunity for all. 

These scholarship spots have been filled!