The Trinity Bellwoods Farmers Market mandate is to support and increase access to fresh, local, sustainable, naturally grown and certified organic agriculture. To educate the community in the food they eat, the source from which it comes and how it is grown and/or prepared. We like slow food, not fast food and eating at hearth and home with your loved ones.
This season we've reached out to some local resto's and invited them to come for a one-off treat for patrons. When Island Oysters Shuck Bar and Maizal are not present, here's who will be....we'll tweet/fb a day before.
June 20th - Cathy's Crawley Composters can set you up with an alternative way to compost (okay it's not food, but very cool. Local resto, Cote de Boeuf will be bringing their popular French inspired baguette sandwiches!
June 27, July 18, Aug. 1, Aug. 15th, Local resto Fresh on Crawford will be there with their delish premade salads and juices.
July 11, Aug. 22, Local resto The Goods will bring some of their 'goods' to nosh on.
Aug 8th, Local resto The County General, brings something different to market, their own sauces and preserves.
Aug. 29th, Local resto Bobbie Sue's Mac + Cheese is coming. Say no more.
Oct 3rd Local resto Soos will be serving up some curry/rice and a few other delectables.
Volunteering is a great way to help sustain market operations.
Please consider this;
Volunteering for the Farmers Market gives you the opportunity..
• To learn where your food comes from
• Get to know some of the producers
• Discover local food and how to eat seasonally
• Join a dedicated group of volunteers who care about what they eat & enjoy some outdoor park time.
SHIFTS, but not limited to. (market operates rain or shine)
- set up of signage i.e. sandwich boards, banner
- organizers' set up 12:30pm to 2pm; tent and pylons to reserve/monitor vendor parking, signage
- help vendor load in 2pm to 3:30pm
- 3:30 to 7:45 floating time frame, length of time tbd
- help vendor load out 6:30pm to 7:45pm
You may commit to any time frame that works best for you i.e. 1, 2 or 3 months at any point of season or the entire season. Anything is possible, we honestly appreciate the hand.
If you would like to join our volunteer team, please fill out the volunteer_app_form.pdf attached here and email it to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Please note that we do our best to accomodate all volunteer applicants. In the event we get an influx, we may have to put applications on hold.
Alternatively, if you can't volunteer on the day of market, there are other ways to contribute to the market e.g. flyer distribution, painting things, handyperson stuff, social media, outreach. None of the above? Perhaps you have a different particular skill to offer? Let us know. We'll put you to good use if we can ;-)
Scott Cinello - for partnering with me as co-founder to get this baby off the ground. He was instrumental in desiging the market, it's mandate and curated the original vendor line up. All of which continue to guide the princples of the market to this day.
Kent Price - shelves/coat rack for the market shed..and other ongoing handy stuff.
Martha Malloy and Connor - x4 promotional sandwich boards (they are awesome).
Veronica Park - designer extrodinaire of our postcard - she was winner of the postcard design contest in 2015 - who continues to do yearly revisions.
Nadege and County General for storing our sandwich boards at their establishments between market days.
David Ginsberg of the White Squirrel cafe - rallied a handful of businesses to donate funds towards replacement our wagons/dolly that had gotten stolen from the old shed. (unsolicited and very thoughtful)
David Johnston - tbfm.ca website master (who responds to my every self-induced admin panic)
Nativity of the Mother of God - letting us store our equipment in their garage while we waited for our new shed. Water for our hand washing station and being good supportive neighbours.
Claire Midgley (lettering) & Ed DeSousa (background) - painting our 'Vendor Parking Only' sign
Bob Pritchard - painting our 'slow down' cyclist signage, that evolved to 'walk your bike' sign in 2016.
Also to every volunteer that has made and makes the committment to come out on a regular basis to help set up/wrap during the season! You people are awesome and continue to sustain market operations.
Notably from the above group is Gay Couillard, who has been volunteering since our inaugural year, 2007! An amazing source of consultation and great conversation. Noteworthy: Mike Pettigrew, Sheri McGraw, Tessa Paucha, Arla Good, Jacqueline Bruner, Sara Mclean, Kirk Heron, Shawn Vanderheyden, Georgia Ydreos.
Thank you to the City of Toronto, Parks and our Councillor Mike Layton for their unwaivering support.
Well folks, that's all she wrote for 2016. Thank you to all our loyal patrons over the past 10 years. Much gratitude to the many volunteers who are core to our operations, couldn't do it without this bunch of diverse, interesting and intelligent characters. Each week they help the vendors load in/out from their vehicles to their stalls. Speaking of vendors - also a bunch of diverse, interesting bunch of characters we might add - there is so much to say about how special they are and could not do them justice in this forum. What will be stated is that the dedication these people have to their livelihood astounds. Sincerely. Participating at a farmers' market is not for the faint of heart. We definately got no faint hearts at tbfm. The quality of their product is the reason people come and have been since 2007. Our tranquil setting in the park, under a canopy of trees surrounded by green space is teh added bonus which makes it especially welcoming to the community - kids roam free - who appreciate our presence more than we will ever know. Such positive energy. Thank you from our hearts. See you in May 2017. Spread the word about us to those not in the know!
We are also grateful to Nadege and The County General for harbouring our sandwichboards during the season, again! It's a huge help, thank you.
Congratulations to our final basket draw winner in October, on the left, Moreen! With Lois (Sept.) and Russell (August). The basket draw was lots of fun and we'll do it again next season!
Like our facebook page Trinity Bellwoods Farmers Market for weekly newsy stuff and other related and interesting information. For the hottest news of what's arrived on the farmers/vendors tables on market day, best follow us on twitter @TBFarmersMarket Follow us on instagram @TrinityBellwoodsFM where we post a few unfiltered images post market day. Visit Toronto Farmers Market Network as a great resource for all FM's in Greater Toronto.
WALKING YOUR BIKE THROUGH THE MARKET - PARKING YOUR BIKE SHOPPING AT THE MARKET
We know it's uber convenient to bring you bike with you right up to the stall. But it's not always the safest approach - seen many a bike topple over in crowded stall area, there's lots of small people around and we don't want anyone to get hurt from shopping at a farmers market - yikes. Simple solution, just lock up your wheels, lay it down on the grass or with the kick stand or LEAN it agains a mature tree. You bike will be fine. Thank you!
Looking for some tips, check out this fun article
Polite Peddler: Farmers Market Etiquette dandyBLOG
LEAVE A BAG / TAKE A BAG PROGRAM starts this season.
To further our commitment to our environment, we will be implementing 'leave a bag/take a bag' for FREE. Which means, any extra clean re-useable shopping bags (paper handled ones are good too!) that you have at home (we know you have some) bring them to market for others to use. If you forget your bag one time, help yourself to a bag. Return it, keep using it. No worries.
Please only donate CLEAN bags, especially free of pet hairs re: people with allergens. Thank you.
Subscribe to our mailing list via the Friends of Trinity Bellwoods website, trinitybellwoods.ca. Where you can get some awesome info about the park you could never have imagined. Friends are also on twitter @FriendsofTriBel and be a friend on Facebook, Friends of Trinity Bellwoods Park.
TBFM is an initiative of the Friends of Trinity Bellwoods Park.