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With the 2021 season of the celebrated Penticton Farmers' Market now well underway, PentictonNow figured it was a good time to stop by and scope out the scene.
So Saturday morning that's exactly what we did. The weather was fantastic, but we wondered about the impact of the ongoing pandemic. Were the crowds still coming out? Were the vendors upbeat? Was the market still the focal point it's been for so many years?
But first, the basics.
The market is still the one-way affair it was in 2020. Guests enter from Lakeshore, exit at Westminster, and there's just 75 of them allowed in at any one time. An attendant sanitizes your hands as you enter, and signs are posted throughout reminding you to adhere to social distancing regulations.
Masks are mandatory for all vendors. There are no performers or musicians. And you can't chow down on the stuff you purchase until you leave the market.
Given all the rules, you might think the 2021 version of the Market would simply be too suffocating. But you’d be wrong.
Once you’re in, it feels good. There's conversation and laughter and lots of cool stuff -- both food- and craft-based -- to check out and acquire.
"I was here in September and October of last year," said market manager Linda Van Alphen, "and people are more relaxed now. They're following our pandemic plan, but at the same time, they're incorporating into our old style of the market.
"They're stopping and talking now and having good conversations about their products. Last year people were being shuttled through very quickly, but now we're starting to get that market feeling back."
And it couldn’t come a moment too soon. For vendors like Greg Luff, owner of Penticton-based Soda Creek Soap Co., the market, and the local folks who've supported his biz during the pandemic, are his salvation.
"Small business for the last year and a half has been horrid," he said Saturday. "The guy beside me (at his business address on Industrial Avenue) was making Britannia Pies for 17 years, and he's now moved out.
"I know the government says they're doing a lot for us, but there's a lot of us who just fall through the cracks. So my sincere thanks goes out to local shoppers. The Farmers' Market and the community support is essential for small business these days. That's what's keeping me going through this…adventure."
Over at the "Sheryl Blois Glass" booth, owner and glass artist Sheryl Blois is downright thrilled to be part of the 2021 edition.
"I did the Downtown Penticton Market for many, many years," she said, "but this year I'm here. It's a great venue. I've been trying to get into this market for several years.
"It's the philosophy of make it, bake it, or grow it. As an artist trying to sell handmade wares, it's appreciated more here than the other bigger market."
Blois explained how she creates her stunning tableware pieces, by covering them entirely n enamel and then "scratching" out the design. Each piece, she said, takes hours to complete, which gave us an ever greater appreciation of the finished product.
"The impact of COVID has been huge," she said. "I don’t have a website. No online component. And last year with the wineries (where she sells her goods), it was appointment only. Customers were in and out quickly, so they had no time to shop around.
"But business at the market has been really good. And it's just going to get better as summer comes on. Not just sales, but networking too."
Right next door, Daryl O'Neill of the newly founded "OK Broomer" proved that brooms can also be high art.
O'Neill, a musician for much of his life and the husband of long-time community market champion and environmental activist Laurel Burnham, who passed away far too early in 2019, told us how his OK Broomer came into being.
"I started growing broom corn just for fun," he said. "Every year I try to grow a few oddball plants.
"So I made my kids a few brooms for Christmas. The handles are all wild crafted from various local hardwoods. But this is the first year I've sold commercially.
"And look, they let me into the market."
Meanwhile down the road at the Farmhouse Deli display, owner Chantal Moreau said the market is welcome relief from a year where she'd intended to open a storefront in Okanagan Falls.
"COVID delayed my plans," she said. "I'll sell cheese, salads, soups and my preserves, and pending a location, I'll now open next year. But business here is very good."
Our final stop wasn't technically inside market boundaries. But it was part of it just the same.
It was the Penticton Area Cycling Association's freebie bike valet service, back again in 2021 after a pandemic-spurred one-year absence.
"We started the bike valet to incentivize people to use their bikes," said PACA urban cycling director Matt Hopkins. "It's an example to show the city that if you do things to encourage people to use bike transportation, they will."
The service, active every Saturday from 8:30 am to 1 pm through the end of September, offers free, monitored bike parking for anyone who wants to use it.
"We eventually want to do this more often," said Hopkins. "We'd like to do Peach Fest when it comes back and maybe concerts at the SOEC in the future."
We'll feature more Penticton Farmers' Market vendors and faces as the season moves along. For more info on the market, head to its website.