New West Farmers Market

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Local Foodie Events

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Soon, my pretties.

Our 5th Annual Fundraiser is coming up fast on May 31st, but there are other great events happening in this next little while.It’s getting closer to summer and the sun has finally come, along with many local food events around the lower mainland. Try filling your lazy days with fun events learning about and eating all kinds of cuisines.

On June 1st, Eat! Vancouver Food and Cooking Festival, the largest food festival in Vancouver, kicks off for three days at BC Place Stadium, with a celebrity stage of food experts such as Annabelle Waugh, Food Director at Canadian Living Magazine, and David Rocco, the host of Food Network’s David Rocco’s  Dolce Vita. Learn how to cook up a storm from professionals like Ryan Gauthier and Jason Labahn from the Glowball Collection and simply eat your heart out at the many different vendors. Here are the schedules for June 1, June 2 and June 3 and check out their website for more information.

Similar to our Naramata on the River, another food and wine event taking place this month is Sip into Spring with BC VQA Wines on May 25 from 6:30pm to 9pm. Complete with hors d’oeuvres and oyster shooters, samples of fresh BC wines accompany a fine evening out in Vancouver. You will get to taste wines from all five of BC’s wine growing regions, the sub-regions of Kelown, Okanagan Falls, Golden Mile, Black Sage/Osoyoos, and what’s more, more Naramata. Start your weekend early and take in your fair share of anti-oxidants!

Ever wanted to grow fruit trees? Ever wanted to grow fruit trees and trim them into aesthetically appealing decorations on your front yard? Now you can learn how to at the Espalier: Pruning and Trimming Fruit Trees on June 15, hosted by UBC Botanical Garden. Brendan Fisher, UBC Botanical Garden Horticulturist, teaches how to care and maintain espalier fruit trees. Aside from that, growing your own fruit from your own yard makes eating them that much sweeter. Prune their website for more information on the event!

Even though our summer market runs every Thursday afternoon, don’t forget that other farmers markets are up and running for the season. Fresh, local food and unique, handmade arts and crafts make for a fun-filled outing with family, friends and pets. A couple of other markets in the area are the Artisan Farmers Market in Burnaby at Deer Lake Park that runs on Saturdays from 9am to 2pm and the Coquitlam Farmers Market at the Dogwood Pavillion that is on from 9am to 1pm every Sunday. It’s a great experience to show young and old alike that buying locally grown food helps support and sustain BC farmers.

 

Fundraiser Menu and Ticket Sponsors

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We couldn’t exist without the support of sponsors and donors to contribute to our annual fundraiser. Thanks must go to Wild Rice for generously letting us take over for the night on May 31st and going above and beyond to let us have things our way. If you have not yet been to Wild Rice, this is a perfect evening to go!

As we mentioned in our post announcing the details to the fundraiser, Head Chef Todd Bright is creating a special menu for ticketholders to choose from featuring local foods – which aligns with our overall market goals. To help offset the cost of the gourmet menu offerings without raising the ticket price for our loyal supporters, generous sponsors have stepped up to the plate and I wanted to point out their generosity and support. The menu includes:

  • Barbeque pork with steamed vegetables and jasmine rice – sponsored by the fine folks at Re-Up BBQ who are opening their brick and mortar store at River Market very soon and who have donated the pork for the dish.
  • Mushrooms with crispy tofu on jasmine rice (vegan) – sponsored by the New Veganminster Project, who promotes vegan food by putting on events and gatherings in New Westminster and specializes in food-that-doesn’t-taste-vegan-to-omnivores (trust me, I know!).
  • chicken with red peppers, snow peas, and bok choy on Shanghai noodles – sponsored by Rockweld Farm – a returning farmers market vendor who have generously donated the chicken to be used by the chef. They are BCSPCA certified and feed their chickens organic grain.

We are also thrilled to be able to produce our own tickets at a reduced printing cost because of local design firm Of Desks. Of Desks has donated the design for our tickets instead of us having to pay a ticket service with lots of hidden charges!

We are still seeking donations for our silent auction and would love to hear from you if you have something you can donate. Please get in touch with us at marketmanager@newwestfarmers.ca.

Update: Tickets are now sold out! 

There are still some tickets available although tickets are going fast! To buy online, you can check out the right sidebar and follow the link to Paypal. Get in touch with us at 778-928-7236 or info@newwestfarmers.ca to buy in person.

5th Annual Fundraiser

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UPDATE: The event is now sold out!

Oh my are we ever excited to be sharing this!

Our 5th annual fundraiser has been finalized, and this year we are so pleased to be teaming up with the lovely folks at Wild Rice to celebrate the amazing foods British Columbia food producers have to offer. Mark your calendars for May 31 (one week before our summer season starts up!), and join us to kick off our summer season. Festivities start at 6pm on at Wild Rice, located in River Market at 810 Quayside Drive.

Early crowds at last year's event

Like previous years, ticket holders get a meal and an adult beverage, and the very talented Chef Todd Bright has developed unique dishes just for our fundraiser that feature some of the best our vendors have to offer. We are drooling just typing this! Ticket holders may choose from:

  • Barbeque pork with steamed vegetables and jasmine rice
  • Mushrooms with crispy tofu on jasmine rice (vegan)
  • Rockweld Farms chicken with red peppers, snow peas, and bok choy on Shanghai noodles

Wild Rice is creating a specially featured, seasonally-inspired cocktail to pair with the meals and it is included in the ticket price. (You can opt for a draft beer, highball, or specially selected red or white wine if a cocktail isn’t your thing).

The silent auction table from last year

As at our past fundraisers, we will feature a silent auction and 50/50 draw. We are currently seeking donations of goods and services and if you are willing to donate, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us to arrange pickup.

Tickets are just $24. We suggest buying now to avoid disappointment as we have sold out the past three years and expect to again.

Update: tickets are now sold out! Thank you so much for your support! 

Update! Tickets are now available for purchase online! Just hit up our home page, and look for the link in to top right sidebar.

If you’re interested in buying tickets, please email us at info@newwestfarmers.ca.  We can arrange to hold tickets for you at the door. We can take payment via good old fashioned cash, or credit card using paypal. We can also mail you tickets if you’d like. They do need to be paid for in advance.

Please note this event welcomes families with kids to attend – just be aware it is likely to be loud and busy.

Please help us kick start the 2012 summer season and join us May 31 at Wild Rice.

 

Bringing the Okanagan to New Westminster

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RCFM River Market at the Quay

RCFM is excited to sponsor Naramata on the River, a night of fine wine dining, as part of the 11th Annual British Columbia Cultural Crawl at the River Market in New Westminster.

Naramata Bench Wineries can be found near Penticton in the Southern Okanagan. It’s not enough that they get less rain and hotter weather than us New Westminsterians, but Naramata Bench also gets to sit on sand cliffs with views of mountains, vineyards and Okanagan Lake with a fresh glass of sun-soaked wine.

The one big perk with Naramata on the River is that you don’t have to drive the five hours to get to the wine: the wine is coming to you. On April 24, 2012, the River Market at the New Westminster Quay will be hosting Naramata Bench Wineries from 6:30pm to 9:00pm. Plan a Tuesday night in the town and walk, bike or skytrain to the River Market to taste test new wines.

Rest assured there will be no shortages of red or white wine choices between the 21 members associated with Naramata Bench, including Laughing Stock Vineyards, the 2011 Canadian Wine Awards gold medal winner for Syrah 2009. A full list of the participating wineries is located at the bottom of this post. The Spring wine releases will be paired with dishes from Vancouver restaurants, including the Hamilton Street Grill, Hagensborg Chocolates and Naramata’s personal Hillside Bistro to complete your wine tasting experience.

As if dining by the River listening to live music by the Sarah Kennedy Jazz Trio and New Westminster singer and songwriter Gillian Hobbs isn’t enough, you will get the chance to meet and greet Naramata winemakers and bid on silent auctions for Naramata wines, Naramata Wine Country Getaways, Behind the Scenes Wine Experiences and Canadian artworks.

This event promises to be an evening of fine wining, dining and spending quality time with family and friends.

Participating wineries:

Black Widow Winery
D’Angelo Estate Winery
Elephant Island Orchard Wines
Hillside Estate Winery & Bistro
Kettle Valley Winery
La Frenz Winery
Lake Breeze Vineyards
Laughing Stock Vineyards
Misconduct Wine Co.
Monster Vineyards
Moraine Estate Winery
Nichol Vineyard & Estate Winery
Perseus Winery
Poplar Grove Winery
Red Rooster Winery
Serendipity Winery
Therapy Vineyards
Township 7 Vineyards & Winery
Upper Bench Estate Winery
Van Westen Vineyards
3 Mile Estate Winery

Click here to order tickets online.

Visit www.bcculturalcrawl.com for tickets or more information on Naramata on the River.
Visit www.naramatabench.com to learn more about Naramata Bench Wineries.

 

Date set for Annual General Meeting

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Did you know that Royal City Farmers Market is a non profit society under the BC Societies Act? We’re required to have an Annual General Meeting each year and elect a volunteer Board of Directors that guide the operation of the farmers market. We also think that an AGM is also an excellent opportunity to touch base with our members and highlight the year just passed.

This year we are pleased to host guest speaker John Gibeau, from the Honeybee Centre in Langley. John is a New Westminster resident and is going to share his expertise on honeybees, why they are so critical to world food supplies and how to identify wasps and what to do about them.

The AGM will take place at New Westminster Public Library on January 26th. Doors and registration is at 6:00pm, and the evening will get underway at 7:00pm. Memberships are available to purchase at the AGM for just $10, and membership is required to vote in the election of our new Board of Directors.

Please join us! 

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Land Acknowledgement

Our market is grateful to operate on the unceded land of the Qayqayt, Kwikwetlem, and other Halkomelem speaking Peoples. We acknowledge that colonialism has made invisible their histories and connections to the land. We acknowledge the incredible gift this land is to our market and BC Agriculture. We commit to the ongoing work of decolonization and allyship.