Happy 30th Birthday VFM!
Reflections from our Executive Director, Laura Smit
I still have sensory memories of my first market morning managing Trout Lake – the peat-scented mist when I arrived onsite, the bright headlights of farm trucks rolling in on Templeton Drive, the colourful transformation of a grey parking lot into a few hours of vibrant tent and people-filled cacophony and the myriad of faces who became regular fixtures in the weeks and years to come.
Planning our 30th anniversary almost fifteen years later has afforded me the opportunity to crack open old photo albums and have tea and conversations with vendors and past colleagues. It was something to celebrate and reminisce over at regional food gatherings and an excuse to send emails to people I haven’t had cause to connect with for some time. I am grateful for the stories and reflections people shared with me and hope that you’re able to find your market people, share stories and celebrate too.
What do you remember about your first market visit? What keeps you coming back year after year?
As I looked back at thirty years of Vancouver Farmers Markets with some of the people who have been involved in it, chapters started emerging and a larger story began to take shape – a story that for all of its thirty long years, is just getting started. And whether you’ve been around since the beginning, remember programs like RIPE or market money or have only joined us this year, we’re so glad you’re here!
1995-1999 How it All Began
One simple mission…fresh food for everyone.
We celebrate those of you who had the vision to address food insecurity by bringing a farmers market to East Vancouver. Many faces have come and gone and yet many are still with us. Those of you involved in planning, advocating, making, baking, growing, shopping or volunteering for our first markets – thank you for your vision. Read more about this phase on our first in the four part series of the blog posts – Where It All Began: A Parking Lot and a Dream
2000-2009 Growing the Movement
Through all the seasons… food connects us.
We celebrate those of you who were part of building the local food movement in the city and across the province. Some of you were on our first board of directors or helped write the Vancouver Food Charter. You might have been one of our first midweek regulars at Main St Station or part of the hundreds of volunteers involved in the Kitsilano early days. Thank you for your commitment. Stay tuned as we post the next blog in August sharing more from this phase of our journey.
2010-2019 Innovation and Advocacy
The city grows… so do we.
We celebrate those of you involved in this season of exploration and expansion. Our community grew exponentially as even more of you joined in as we started markets in seven neighbourhoods and initiated an unprecedented number of projects, inspired by our vision of a local food system that supports and connects us all. For those of you who pushed boundaries and challenged the status quo – thank you for your creativity. The blog post from this phase of VFM’s history will be published in September – so stay tuned!
2020-2025 Resilience in Real Time
In fires, floods and global uncertainty, farmers (and markets) adapt.
We celebrate those of you who have journeyed with us through the pandemic uncertainty of whether we could run markets at all to the constant adaptations due to climate disruptions, severe weather, development pressure and the high cost of living. For those of you who have changed your expectations of what our markets look and feel like… thank you for your determined adaptability. And the last in this four part series will appear on the website in October. We hope you stay engaged with us on this storytelling journey speaking about 30 years of creating vibrant and welcoming markets that build community, feed people, and support small farms and producers.
We’re just getting started…
What a joy to gather with so many of you last month at our 30th Anniversary Party. We had hoped to bring people together from the different chapters and roles of VFM’s story and are so happy to report that we did! The room was filled with vendors, shoppers, staff and board members from every chapter of our history – from community members at the very first planning meeting in 1995 to brand new vendors just starting up this year.
Photo by Jeremy Dyson
If you weren’t able to make the party, look out for the photoboards making their way around the markets and check out our celebratory video. See if you recognize some of the faces who have passed and those who are still with us. Odds are, if you’ve read this far, you’re in there too!
Stay tuned for upcoming blog posts celebrating some of the chapters and characters in our story and keep coming to markets to keep the story alive.
Thank you for building vibrant and welcoming markets with us!
Laura Smit
