The following letter to the editor will be appearing in an upcoming edition of the Erin Advocate.

Dear Editor,

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Phil Gravelle for the mention of our Farmers’ Market survey in his column last week.  Yes, it’s true – the Erin Agricultural Society is considering holding a farmers’ market at the fairgrounds next summer!

It came to light early in the year that Debi Clare, Dwayne Gregson and I had all been thinking (individually) that it would be a good idea for the Ag Society to host a farmers’ market during the summer months and/or at the fair.  A presentation on hosting a farmers’ market at your fair at the Ontario Association of Agricultural Societies’ annual convention was the catalyst that got the three of us talking about the potential.

We have been accessing consultation services through the Rural Social Enterprise Project (a project that I coordinate through my work with the Foundation for Rural Living) to help us determine whether hosting a farmers’ market will be a feasible venture for us.  This process has included the 2 surveys that consumers and farmers/farm shop operators can complete online (the links to these surveys can be found on our website at www.erinfair.ca).  Additionally, our consultant has been gathering information from surrounding farmers’ markets to help us make decisions about how best to manage a market in Erin.

Some people may be wondering why we are considering a Friday evening market, instead of one held on a Saturday morning.  We have a couple of reasons for this consideration: many farmers/vendors are already committed to Saturday markets and a lot of traffic passes by the fairgrounds on Friday evenings in the summer (heading north).

And what about a farmers’ market at the fair?  This is also up for consideration, and we will be thinking about the logistics of this as we continue with our work on the Friday evening market idea.

While we can’t make any firm commitments yet (our farmers’ market committee will have to present a recommendation to the Ag Society’s board of directors) we can tell you that the survey results are largely in favour of a Friday evening farmers’ market at the fairgrounds in the summer of 2012!

Jennifer Girvin
1^st Vice President
Erin Agricultural Society