So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, goodbye!

This week is the “final market” and while we are sad to be see the summer 2010 season wind down, we are looking ahead to our winter market! The winter market starts in November, and, like last year, will be taking place at Holy Trinity Cathedral located at 514 Carnarvon Street. The winter markets are once a month, and take place on the second Saturday of the month from 10AM to 2PM. So mark your calendars with the following dates: November 13, December 11, January 8, February 12, March 12, and April 9. We’re really excited about our winter market and we hope you’ll be able to join us.

But! We have one fun filled and jam packed market to do before we get to Winter Market, so let’s talk about October 7th! We have some truly fun events lined up. Feel free to partake in our free outdoor family portrait studio, staffed by local volunteer professional photographers. We’re setting up an autumnal scene complete with hay, scarecrows, leaves, and other fall accoutrement in gorgeous Tipperary Park, and we invite you to don your favourite outfits and bring down the whole family. We’ll snap your portrait (think: easy holiday card!) and a few days later we’ll email you a link where you will be able to download your picture and have prints made! If you don’ t have email – that’s okay too. For a small fee, we can have your picture printed for you and mail it to you. A hat tip goes to Mary Forstbauer from Forstbauer Family Farm for supplying us with the fabulous props.

We’ll also have a limited number of carving (and eating!) pumpkins from the Applebarn Pumpkin Farm available for a minimum $1 donation to the local Food Bank. Pick up your pumpkin in the middle of the market – don’t forget your tote to carry it home! Or, you can pick up our 100% recycled cotton tote, made in Canada, and beautifully screened with our logo for the special final market price of $7for non-members, and $4 for members. These totes are one of our fundraisers and we love seeing people walking all over our fine city proudly carrying their goods in this sturdy, well made tote.

Did you know that RCFM is accessible by transit? Check the Translink Trip Planner and just type in 4th St and Royal Ave into the “destination” box and your location in the “departing” box and you’ll be all set.

We want to take this opportunity to say thank you for your support this season – the weather hasn’t always been cooperative so it really warms our hearts that you still continued to come and support the market week in and week out. Thanks also to our sponsors – The City of New Westminster, Westminster Savings, The Heritage Grill,and  Tenth to the Fraser and also the vendors. We’d also like to especially thank all of the volunteers who have contributed to making this season so successful – both the people who have worked so hard at the market and those of you who have helped and contributed your time and services behind the scenes. We simply wouldn’t exist without all these great folks.

Here’s what else we have on for the final market:

Music, sponsored by our friends at the Heritage Grill (where there’s live jazz, blues, folk, Latin, and funk 7 days a week!):

• local jazz/funk/prog rock band Redrick Sultan 3-7pm

Kids’ Entertainment:

• Allyson Grant, Face Painting
• Kids’ Freeplay Zone, with toys selected with care at Pedagogy Toys

Community Groups:

• TBD

Vendors This Week : (not all vendors come to every market, so check this list if you’re looking for someone special – they are arranged categorically. Want a complete listing of all the vendors, even the ones not here this week? Here it is!)

Eat On Site

• Copeland Foods – hot vegetarian samosas, as well as frozen take home meat pies and ready-to-eat dinners
• Creperie La Boheme – Mouthwatering crepes!
• Gogo Java – Coffee, tea, smoothies, juice, and other liquids

Produce

• Apple Barn Pumpkin Farm – Peppers, tomatoes, apples & pumpkins
• Celyddon Farms – Certified organic produce from Delta
• new! Cranberry Meadows – cranberries from Maple Ridge
• Forstbauer Family Natural Food Farm – organic produce, eggs, and beef
• Glen Valley Organic Farm – certified organic produce from a farm located only 50km from New Westminster
• Golden West Farms – Okanagan fruit grown in Summerland, many certified organic
• Maan Farms – assorted locally grown produce as well as HOT ROASTED CORN!
• Misty Mountain Specialties – fresh wild and cultivated mushrooms, dried mushroom products
• Nature Village Farm – Asian produce grown in Richmond
• Red Barn Plants and Produce – assorted locally grown produce
• Shalefield Organic Gardens – produce from the Columbia Valley

Dairy

• Little Qualicum Cheeseworks – High quality cheese from Vancouver Island

Meat & Fish

• Fresh Off the Boat – Fresh fish
• Outwest Ranches – beef raised locally and fresh eggs

Bread & Baking

• A Bread Affair – Breads
• Blackberry Hill – Baked Goods
• Sunrise Pita Company – pitas, chips, dips, and banana bread
• Sweet Thea Cake Company – tarts, pies, cookies, and cakes

Delectable Treats

• Ace Curries To Go – curry sauces
• AJI Gourmet Products – sauces made using aji spice
• Amber’s Choice – baked madeleines, soups, salad dressing
• Anne’s Gallery – Jams, jellies & knitting
• Bean Boy Creations – Organic hummous
• Gary’s Kettlecorn – Kettlecorn
• Jane’s Honey Bees – honey and other bee products
• Maples’ Sugar Shack – maple syrup products
• Simply Delish Soup Co – layered soup mix, rice pilaf mix, and spice rubs

Local Crafters

• Alma Valle Fine Silver Jewelry – handcrafted sterling silver original jewelry
• Black Bamboo Artisans – hand made glazed pottery and knitting
• Ildiko Jewelry – hand forged sterling silver jewelry
• Lesley and Brenda – assorted knitting, beaded items, and other hand made goods
• The Other Eden – cold process soaps scented with essential and fragrance oils, room sprays, body products

Gardening

• Secret Garden – cut flowers

The market on September 30th will be the second to last market of our summer 2010 season! It’s been an interesting season so far with record rain followed by record dry followed by our good friend rain again! An outdoor market is a wonderful way to witness the seasons changing – not only from the trees in wonderful Tipperary Park, but also from what you see in the stalls – produce is ever-changing and amazing to look at. This week, look for hardy celery root (try it stand alone mashed or in soups), fennel (grilled or in a stir fry), or kale (rolled chopped up tomatoes, black pepper, and feta cheese up in a kale leaf and grill quickly -yum!). Ask your vendor for tips on how to prepare your veggie treasures.

Did you know that New Westminster boasts an amazing heritage of having a vibrant city farmers market? For many years it was indoors, but at the beginning, it was outdoors too, not terribly far from our current site. Here’s a neat photo from the New Westminster Public Library’s archives showing our market predecessors in 1898 right after New Westminster’s Great Fire. (Photographer was Paul Okamura, Ascension # 156)

If you look closely in the background of that photo, you can see those early market organizers had something we don’t have – hitching posts for horses! We do have a place to park your modern wheeled “horses” though – a bike rack is at the south end of the market (there’s also a popular bike-hitching pole at the north end), and car parking is available along Royal Avenue in the metered spaces (it’s free on market days!) as well as Queens Avenue. City Hall parking lot is also available to market customers after 4:30PM.

Here’s the fresh sheet for this week:

Music, sponsored by our friends at the Heritage Grill (where there’s live jazz, blues, folk, Latin, and funk 7 days a week!):

• Ross Werlick 3-5pm
• Delaney Bloudell 5-7pm

Entertainment and activities for kids:

Kids’ Entertainment:

• Allyson Grant, Face Painting
• Kids’ Freeplay Zone, with toys selected with care at Pedagogy Toys

Community Groups:

• New Westminster Community Garden Society
• New Westminster Environmental Partners

Vendors This Week : (not all vendors come to every market, so check this list if you’re looking for someone special – they are arranged categorically. Want a complete listing of all the vendors, even the ones not here this week? Here it is!)

Eat On Site

• Beer Brats – Beer. Brats. Brilliant.
• Copeland Foods – hot vegetarian samosas, as well as frozen take home meat pies and ready-to-eat dinners
• Creperie La Boheme – Mouthwatering crepes!
• Gogo Java – Coffee, tea, smoothies, juice, and other liquids
• Maluma Health Foods – Bison hot dogs, bison smokies, bison chili and bison ribs and take home packages too!

Produce

• Apple Barn Pumpkin Farm – Peppers, tomatoes, apples & pumpkins
• Celyddon Farms – Certified organic produce from Delta
• Forstbauer Family Natural Food Farm – organic produce, eggs, and beef
• Glen Valley Organic Farm – certified organic produce from a farm located only 50km from New Westminster
• Golden West Farms – Okanagan fruit grown in Summerland, many certified organic
• Maan Farms – assorted locally grown produce
• Misty Mountain Specialties – fresh wild and cultivated mushrooms, dried mushroom products
• Nature Village Farm – Asian produce grown in Richmond
• Shalefield Organic Gardens – produce from the Columbia Valley

Dairy

• Farmhouse Natural Cheeses – cow’s milk cheeses, goat’s milk cheese, goat’s milk yogurt, cow milk butter
• Greendale Herb and Vine – Cheddar cheese, cheese curds, herbs, nut butters and honeycomb
• Little Qualicum Cheeseworks – High quality cheese from Vancouver Island

Meat & Fish

• Gelderman Farms – Pork
• Outwest Ranches – beef raised locally and fresh eggs

Bread & Baking

• A Bread Affair – Breads
• Blackberry Hill – Baked Goods
• Sunrise Pita Company – pitas, chips, dips, and banana bread
• Sweet Thea Cake Company – tarts, pies, cookies, and cakes

Delectable Treats

• Ace Curries To Go – curry sauces
• AJI Gourmet Products – sauces made using aji spice
• Amber’s Choice – baked madeleines, soups, salad dressing
• Bean Boy Creations – Organic hummous
• Con Amore Foods – handmade fresh pasta and vegan spreads and dips
• Gary’s Kettlecorn – Kettlecorn
• Jane’s Honey Bees – honey and other bee products
• Momma Nellie’s Goodies – Salsa
• Simply Delish Soup Co – layered soup mix, rice pilaf mix, and spice rubs
• Taste Tea Cup – locally blended loose leaf tea

Local Crafters

• Alma Valle Fine Silver Jewelry – handcrafted sterling silver original jewelry
• Black Bamboo Artisans – hand made glazed pottery and knitting
• Dingolay Glass Creations – African and Caribbean fused glass jewelry
• Ildiko Jewelry – hand forged sterling silver jewelry
• Lesley and Brenda – assorted knitting, beaded items, and other hand made goods
• The Other Eden – cold process soaps scented with essential and fragrance oils, room sprays, body products
• Quality Oak Accents – Fine wood creations

Gardening

• Secret Garden – cut flowers

September 23rd marks the first legitimate full day of autumn, with summer ending at 8:09pm on September 22nd. Do you feel the change in the air? Leaves are turning, the wind is just a little bit sharper, and darkness falls just a little bit earlier. But just because change is in the air doesn’t mean the market is different than the fun, tasty adventure you’ve come to love all summer! We’re starting to see pumpkins, winter squash, and all those yummy perfect-for-soup root veggies. Apples are also coming in and reliable kale and carrots abound. What’s on your shopping list? Don’t forget about our Made From the Market contest – there is still time to enter!

Here’s what’s on this week:

Music, sponsored by our friends at the Heritage Grill (where there’s live jazz, blues, folk, Latin, and funk 7 days a week!):

• Tim Lambert 3-5pm
• Chris Messytone 5-7pm

Kids’ Entertainment:

• Allyson Grant, Face Painting
• Kids’ Freeplay Zone, with toys selected with care at Pedagogy Toys

Community Group:

Vendors This Week : (not all vendors come to every market, so check this list if you’re looking for someone special – they are arranged categorically. Want a complete listing of all the vendors, even the ones not here this week? Here it is!)

Eat On Site

• Copeland Foods – hot vegetarian samosas, as well as frozen take home meat pies and ready-to-eat dinners
• Gogo Java – Coffee, tea, smoothies, juice, and other liquids
• Maluma Health Foods – Bison hot dogs, bison smokies, bison chili and bison ribs and take home packages too!

Produce

• Apple Barn Pumpkin Farm – Peppers, tomatoes, apples & pumpkins
• Celyddon Farms – Certified organic produce from Delta
• Forstbauer Family Natural Food Farm – organic produce, eggs, and beef
• Glen Valley Organic Farm – certified organic produce from a farm located only 50km from New Westminster
• Golden West Farms – Okanagan fruit grown in Summerland, many certified organic
• Maan Farms – assorted locally grown produce
• Nature Village Farm – Asian produce grown in Richmond
• Red Barn Plants and Produce – assorted locally grown produce
• Shalefield Gardens – Columbia Valley farm selling seasonal veggies

Dairy

• Greendale Herb and Vine – Cheddar cheese, cheese curds, herbs, nut butters and honeycomb
• Little Qualicum Cheeseworks – High quality cheese from Vancouver Island

Meat & Fish

• Outwest Ranches – beef raised locally and fresh eggs

Bread & Baking

• A Bread Affair – Breads
• Blackberry Hill – Baked Goods
• Sweet Thea Cakes – cakes, tarts, pies, cookies, and traditional European baking

Delectable Treats

• Ace Curries To Go – curry sauces
• AJI Gourmet Products – sauces made using aji spice
• Amber’s Choice – baked madeleines, soups, salad dressing
• Anne’s Gallery – Jams, jellies & knitting
• Bean Boy Creations – Organic hummous
• Gary’s Kettlecorn – Kettlecorn
• Jane’s Honey Bees – honey and other bee products
• Maples’ Sugar Shack – maple syrup products
• Momma Nellie’s Goodies – Salsa
• Simply Delish Soup Co – layered soup mix, rice pilaf mix, and spice rubs

Local Crafters

• Black Bamboo Artisans – hand made glazed pottery and knitting
• Dingolay Glass Creations – African and Caribbean fused glass jewelry
• Ildiko Jewelry – hand forged sterling silver jewelry
• Magnetite Jewelry by Gina – magnetite jewelry custom fit
• The Other Eden – cold process soaps scented with essential and fragrance oils, room sprays, body products

Gardening

• Secret Garden – cut flowers

We are heading into the last four weeks of the market, and we want to know what you think of what we’ve offered so far in our season! One lucky winner will also receive a market tote with $50 worth of gift certificates to spend at the upcoming winter season (or you can SAVE them for the summer season – it’s up to you – they don’t expire!). The draw for the gift certificates and market tote will take place in October. Good luck! And thanks! We appreciate your feedback.

Click here to take survey