It was 4 miserable degrees Saturday morning -- and windy -- as the very first Penticton Farmers Market of 2022 opened at 8:30 am. PentictonNow made its way to the 100 block of Main Street just afterwards, thinking the weather would put the kibosh on a spectacular debut.
We were wrong. Apparently the first market of the year and the first market since 2019 without any pandemic restrictions at all held a powerful appeal. An hour after opening, the joint was jumping.
Our first stop was the Forbidden Fruit Winery tent, where owner/vendor Steve Venables said the day started "steady" but was now "ramping up." He was right. A half hour later Venables was non-stop taster-serving.
"I was here in the 80s, selling fruit," he said. "And then when we opened the winery in 2004, I started going to markets in Osoyoos, then Penticton and Vancouver.
"I didn't come here during COVID but I'm back today and I'm excited about it. It's only a 45-minute drive (from Forbidden Fruit's home of Cawston), and it's a great opportunity for me here."
Continuing our early morning booze cruise, we next found ourselves at the Dominion Cider display, where we were told it had thus far been an amazing morning for the Summerland-based business.
Market visitors, we were told, were knocking back cider tasters from the get-go. And they'd bought up all the four-packs Dominion brought with them, necessitating a second shipment.
All this by 10 am.
Meanwhile over at the Fresh Pick Mushrooms and Organics tent, co-owners Dylan Bibby and Derek Veregen extolled the virtues of mushrooms to interested passers-by.
Fresh Pick, situated way up north in Lake Country, is a new Market vendor for 2022.
"We're a new venture too," explained Bibby, adding that Saturday was their first-ever market and that they'll definitely be back for more.
"We see the world going from pharmaceuticals to mushrooms in the future, so we want to help make that difference," said Veregan. "We're supposed to be connected with nature, and mushrooms have great healing and medical properties."
Next it was on to the winner of the day's most interesting story contest, courtesy of Dave Caswell, owner/operator of Starvation Flats Farm.
We spotted his table and immediately remembered how many times we'd cycled past the farm, situated west of the Red Bridge in ultra-rural Similkameen Valley, and wondered how it got its name.
So we asked him.
"Well," he said, "my father Terry, who was a founding member of the Farmers Market, wanted to give the farm the most historically accurate name he could find. And the name Starvation Flats had been used by the Hudson's Bay Company when they were traveling up and down the valley.
"They would camp where our current property is -- it was an island in the (Similkameen) river at that time -- and they called it Starvation Flats because it was a place to camp and water the horses and to camp, but there was nowhere to graze the animals."
We liked that answer so much that we walked across the street and asked another question of Lethbridge, Alberta's Kelly Siska, who was tasting product at the Alchemist Distillery booth with hubby Jim.
We asked if she liked it. Turns out she was entranced.
"I tried the Nectar Apple Liqueur," she smiled. "And it was amazing. It was like apple pie in a little shot glass. It was so good."
Then it was on to the eggman, long-time Garnet Valley farmer and one-time Summerland municipal councilor Martin Van Alphen.
Van Alphen, who said he's primarily an egg and hay farmer, was making his very first appearance as a vendor at the market.
"And I'm psyched to be here," he said. "The manager is pretty cool."
Indeed. The manager of the Penticton Farmers Market is Van Alphen's wife Linda.
"So I was helping Linda set up the market up last year," he laughed, "then I'd help her tear it down. In between I went home.
"So I thought I might as well stay here and be a part of it. I like the energy here and the people are great."
Our last stop of the day was the "Hammock Hounds Pet Products" tent of Okanagan Falls' Megan Traicheff.
"I make handmade all-natural dog treats," she said between customers. "I even have treats in the shape of certain human foods, like dog treat sushi and dog treat pizza.
Traicheff gets pretty creative. For example, she uses "spent barley grains" from Slackwater Brewing in her treats.
"I read the stuff was great," she said. "It's full of fibre and protein and dogs love the taste of it. It smells great too when it's baking."
We'll have more on Hammock Hounds in a future story. In the meantime, have fun at the market, which goes again next Saturday at 8:30 am.
