Dear Editor:
RE: Guelph/Eramosa council renews farmers market agreement, April 11.
In response to this article, I’d like to clarify a few points. I live in Mapleton, but I’ve been a vendor at the Rockwood Farmers Market for the last three years because it’s such a vibrant community that it’s worth driving an hour to be part of it.
I learned from the article that there’s a paid municipal employee on site for the market in case something comes up. I have never seen one, so either nothing has come up over the last three years, or this employee has been busy testing the water at the splash pad (or other routine jobs that would have been done anyway).
In contrast, the Mapleton Farmers Market is run by municipal employees on municipal property, and as it’s considered a service to the community, we don’t have to pay rent to set up our tents in an otherwise empty parking lot.
Guelph/Eramosa councillor Bruce Dickieson said he’s in support of farmers markets, but he thinks it’s unfair to the local Sobeys affiliate to subsidize the market with lower rent. He offered a glib, “And I don’t mean the farmers, I mean whoever’s organizing it.”
I’m one of the three farmers who are on the six-member steering committee to organize the market. We are the market. I don’t think he understands what a farmers market is, despite having the words “farmers” and “market” right there in the name.
With inflation, high interest rates and the housing crisis pushing the cost of living out of control and causing rampant food insecurity, many people are struggling just to get by.
I find it incredible that councillor Dickieson would prioritize a chain grocery store over small, independent mom-and-pop businesses. Money spent at small businesses stays in the community as a reinvestment into our community, whereas Sobeys just finished another record quarter of profits for their shareholders.
Thank you to the dedicated customers who keep coming back week after week, and thank you for supporting farmers and small, local businesses.
Erik Begg,
Lebanon