YK Farmers Market wants more diversity, urban farming in 2015

General applications are now being accepted for the 2015 Yellowknife Farmers Market.

This year’s market will run weekly on Tuesday nights from June 2 until September 15 for a total of 16 weeks.

To qualify for the market, vendors must sell goods that are locally made, grown, baked or harvested.

“Local Food production is so important here and we work as hard as we can to make it a reality,” said Dave Zethof, communications director with the Yellowknife Farmers Market.

Read: Yellowknife Farmers Market Blog

Between 96 vendors last year, Zethof says the Yellowknife Farmers Market injected nearly $1-million into the local economy while serving as an incubator for new, small-scale vendors.

Organizers are looking for similar numbers this year, but caution they’ll also try to limit the amount of weekly vendors for a better market flow each week.

Zethof says they’ll also be looking for more variety this time around.

“We tend to receive a lot of applications for the same type of product, so we really encourage people to think creatively because once we reach saturation of a certain category we ultimately have to start turning people away.”

Read: Get Growing In Yellowknife – Here’s How To Find A Garden 

Zethof is hopeful that the Yellowknife Land Share Program will also get more people thinking about urban farming in town.

In its second year of operation, the program is designed to connect landowners with avid gardeners.

“Access to land is a setback for many eager local food producers,” added Zethof.

“That’s why we designed the Land Share Program. It’s actually already a popular program all around the world, so it was only natural for us to start it in Yellowknife.

“The program is designed to connect landowners to growers to encourage the development of food production in under-utilized spaces in Yellowknife.

“We hope that connecting these eager gardeners to land will help them grow food for them and their families, and maybe even be able to sell produce at the market.”

You can find out how to qualify for the market and how to apply for it here.

The deadline to apply is May 1.

Mike Gibbins
Mike Gibbins
Hello and thank you for listening to 100.1 Moose FM! To contact me, you can email me, find me on Twitter or call (867) 920-4663.

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