Farmers & Crafters Market Report

Hi, I am Heather Ferguson and this blog is a weekly report on what is available for consumers and gift seeking shoppers at the two Farm Markets operating in Moncton and eventually around the Province.

I am a Moncton-based freelance writer and you often read my articles in the Moncton Times & Transcript in the advertising special features and in specialty trade and business publications. I have also done an extensive amount of personal writing including two unpublished volumes, A Caribbean Odyssey, about my childhood home in Trinidad, W.I.; Cold Fire, a series of ten short essays, which bridge the gap between the Caribbean and the Maritimes; A Fairy Dance for Baba, a children's book; and The View from My Armchair, a volume of over fifty poems.

I look forward to going to the markets every Saturday morning and have met many of the wonderful artisans, food preparation chefs and marketers who make this such a rich and vibrant experience. Farmers Markets harken back to the purest form of trade and commerce dating from the earliest records of man's existence on earth. Traditionally, the marketplace has been at the centre of civilized society as a vehicle for obtaining goods and services, socializing, and sharing news and ideas. Millennia later, the marketplace as a forum for showcasing local talent, goods, and services is as powerful as ever, and the Greater Moncton Area is blessed with among the finest Farmers Markets in the Atlantic Region. Offering small independent business people a venue to bring together their products with customers looking for unique quality items off the beaten track, the market provides one-on-one relationships between customer and vender as well as one-of-a-kind items not readily found in the "cookie cutter" larger retail establishments, which often employ blanket policies in sales, displays, and in goods offered Canada-wide. The Moncton Farmers Markets, especially, provide an international flavour to its profile with over a dozen countries represented by various vendors exhibiting exotic foods, gifts and crafts to the discriminating market-goer weekly. This column will showcase the vendors at the market at both the Barker Street location as well as the Westmorland Street location in the heart of beautiful downtown Moncton.

The coverage of the farmers and crafters markets can easily be found by using the current calendar dates as I begin to bring the region's Farmers' Markets and the wonderful products found there, home to you on your PC.

Join me for the journey down the interesting aisles of Moncton's Farm Markets!