New West Farmers Market

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Tell us what you think & enter to win!

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Each Thursday during the Royal City Farmers Market season, we see a fantastic mix of new faces and ‘regulars’ shopping the market. To help us plan next season’s market, we’re hoping that you will take 10 minutes to fill out an anonymous customer satisfaction survey.

Tell us what you like, and what you don’t and you can enter to win a Market tote filled with $50 worth of locally made goodies!

Your answers will help us make next year’s Market even better. Some of the questions we’re wrestling with include:

  • Should the Market hours be extended to 8pm?
  • Is there interest in adding a new Winter Market?
  • How could we improve the vendor/product mix for our customers?

Your answers in the survey will help us with these questions and more.

Please click here to take the survey – and thank you for your support of the Royal City Farmers Market!

Classes, demos & family fun at special ‘Get Active’ Market Aug. 13

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GET ACTIVE MARKET August 13th in Tipperary Park in New Westminster from 3-7. This week’s market is CRAZY STUFFED with things to do to celebrate being active in our fair city: Karate and dance demos and join in classes, yoga, bike tuneups by donation, Family Place Kid Zone, PLUS our usual amazing line up of over 30 vendors selling fresh food, homemade goodies, and handmade crafts. Take time to visit “Art in the Park” while you’re there – our free artist showcase in the park!

All-market-long Activities:

  • Life drawing with the Heritage Life Drawing Society. Clothed model provided: bring your easel or sketchbook, and pencils/paints!
  • Korki the Clown returns for another amazing balloon twisting session
  • Art in the Park outdoor art gallery
  • New West Cycle offering mini tuneups for your bicycle by donation
  • New Westminster Parks and Rec Department blood pressure and BMI testing
  • Family Place Active Kid Zone with crafts, games and toys
  • Entertainment featuring Jarrad Lajeunesse and his three piece funk band

Join-in Classes and Demonstrations featuring Tashu Shotowa Karate, Ammara Dance Studio, and Bamboo Yoga. Demos will feature the high level you could acheive with practise – join-in classes are suitable for all levels.

  • 3:00-3:30 Cuban Salsa Demo and Join-In Class
  • 3:30-4:00 Bellydancing Demo and Join-In Class
  • 4:00-4:30 Karate Demo and Join-In Class
  • 5:00-5:30 Karate Demo and Join-In Class
  • 5:30-6:00 Cuban Salsa Demo and Join-In Class
  • 6:00-6:30 Bellydancing Demo and Join-In Class
  • 6:30-7:15 Yoga Join-In Calming Class

The market is in Tipperary Park from 3-7pm and aside from all these great activities, will feature the usual amazing line up of local vendors with fresh food choices and handicrafts.

Hope to see you there!

July Photo Contest Winner

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July was a much harder month to pick a winner for the RCFM Photo Contest because there were five markets in July and so the number of entries were absolutely astounding. The pictures were fantastic too – so many lovely shots of the people that make our market lively, of the food and goods that make our market so popular, and of the fun and exciting atmosphere we are proud to have created.

Last month, Graham wowed us with his up close and personal shot of beets, and this month, Jacee Tan really captured our special event market with his shot of me in my silly costume to celebrate New Westminster’s 150th birthday, standing in front of a colourful stall. I rented the costume to add some sparkle to the market, and Jacee really made the judges remember the fun we had on July 23rd.

150th Celebration Market by Jacee Tan
150th Celebration Market by Jacee Tan

Thanks Jacee!

For his efforts, Jacee is awarded a RCFM t-shirt, and will be entered to win a basket full of goodies at the end of the season featuring goods from our vendors. For more information about how to get involved with the August Photo contest on now, check out these details.  And please note, if you aren’t comfortable signing up to flickr to post your pictures to the flickr group, you can always email them to us and we’ll do it for you.

RCFM fans share the love online

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Just wanted to share a thanks to all you Royal City Farmers Market boosters who share the love online through your blogs, Tweets, photos and videos.

Here’s an excerpt from Emerging Mummy’s lovely post about family memories recalled while soaking up the Market atmosphere with her children:

… I couldn’t resist chai-flavoured honey (seriously…honey flavoured with cloves and cinnamon and nutmeg! Seriously!) and even a beeswax lip balm as a treat.

Then we pulled up a patch of shade to people watch. Anne and I made a supper of crackers, water and raspberries (you think I’m kidding) while Joseph snacked on banana, raspberries and breastmilk.

I told my daughter and son about my Granny Nell and how she always had raspberries in her garden. I said that Auntie and I used to eat ourselves sick on raspberries when we were girls. How we dug the food out of her garden with my cousins, rinsing off the carrots with the garden hose and snapping peas with just one hand.

Even now, I know that July is truly here when we sit in the grass and eat raspberries with our fingers, staining each fingertip red, talking with seeds stuck in our teeth.

Meanwhile, Texpressions has put together a photo montage of images from the Royal City Farmers Market on YouTube:

Jessica at Yum-O-Rama gave a thumb’s up to La Boheme’s crepes after tasting them at the first market:

I’d heard great things about La Boheme – the line up for them at the Trout Lake Farmers Market was huge, and the lineups at a Portobello West show at the Rocky Mountaineer station was equally long. So when I saw the meager three-person lineup at the Royal City Farmers Market, I knew it was the day to try a crepe.

La Boheme makes their crepes with a light batter made from organic buckwheat flour and a small amount of white flour. I thought that it would make for a heavy crepe, but it actually very light, nutty and added a crisp texture.

I ordered the Ali Baba – red pepper spread, baba ghanoush (seasoned eggplant spread), and feta cheese warmed on a toasty-crisp buckwheat crepe, and topped with lettuce before being wrapped and served. It was a vegetarian option and it was delicious!

Twitter has also been alive with Tweets every week from Royal City Farmers Market regulars! You can find us on Twitter at @nwfarmers.

Finally, like many a Market newbie has remarked following their first visit, Miho Shimamura notes on her blog, Unnecessary Necessaries, “must bring larger bag next time:”

The weather cooperated and it was sunny and warm. I arrived at opening time (3pm) and it already was buzzing with action. The market was intimate, but it was full of vibrant energy. It had a great community feel with lots of locals perusing the stalls.

I can’t wait to go back next Thursday to pick up more goodies.

Hope to see you all there!

If we missed your Market post, let us know! Just leave a comment with the link.

Nutrition Coupon program improves access to fresh Market food

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Fifty families in New Westminster will have access to fresh Farmers Market fruit, vegetables, dairy, cheese, seafood and meat that they otherwise could not afford thanks to an innovative new program that subsidizes healthy food choices and encourages families to cook at home.

The Nutrition Coupon Program is a provincially sponsored program aimed at low-income families.  The program aims to address the problem of childhood obesity by empowering families to offer healthy dietary choices for their children.  Participating families receive Farmers Market vouchers and a series of applied cooking lessons.

The Nutrition Coupon Program is a partnership between the Ministry of Agriculture and the B.C. Farmers Market Association.  The program began in 2007 with one farmers market in each of the five different health regions participating. In 2008 the program doubled in size to 10 markets and this year in 2009 has again expanded to 15 markets across B.C.

Each family receives $15 worth of coupons to take to the Market to exchange for fruits, vegetables, dairy, cheese, seafood, and meat. There is also 8 hrs of hands on cooking lessons for each participant provided by local social service agencies.

The program has been a tremendous success and currently has a 95% return on the coupons.

This is the Royal City Farmers Market’s first year participating in the program. We are partnering with the New West Pregnancy Outreach Program run by public health nurse Lori Radburne to implement the program.

The Royal City Farmers Market will continue to search for ways to make the Market inclusive to all income levels in the city and we are confident the Nutrition Coupon Program will be a success here in New Westminster.

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