Farmers’ market filling up downtown Sturgeon Falls

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The stalls at the newly established Sturgeon Falls Farmers’ Market are multiplying rapidly, as the third weekend event saw 17 vendors descend on downtown to sell their wares.

Established by Stuart Seville and Gayle Primeau on the vacant lot at 204 King Street, the newly formed market has been a hit so far, growing every week and bringing more traffic to downtown Sturgeon.

“I didn’t know what to expect,” says Primeau. “I was like, ‘Oh god, I hope people show up,’ but so far so good and we’ll see what happens after this.”

The plan to launch the market came together quickly, a change in approach from the usually meticulous former school teacher. Using her connections on Facebook, Primeau was able to rally together eight vendors for their opening weekend on July 17.

“It was (Stuart’s) idea, he was supposed to do the work and guess what happened? Basically I said, ‘Well I’ll help you;’ that was the words. So I don’t know, (I put it together) in less than a week, a few days. Me and my big mouth,” she laughs.

Primeau says they’re taking it week by week, not locking vendors into commitments for the year. It takes just $25 and a message to Primeau to reserve a spot for a given week, but she encourages vendors to reach out early: if there’s not enough interest, they may not move ahead with a market that week.

So far, it hasn’t been an issue. The second weekend saw several vendors return and more were added to the mix to bring the number up to 12.

“I was here last Sunday, and it went super well,” says Julie Faulkner Arbour, of Farbour Soaps and more in Verner. “The support here in Sturgeon is awesome, and it’s not just Sturgeon, there’s people from all over coming. I had a customer earlier from Cochrane, so that’s awesome.”

Primeau also had local musicians like Chris Osbourne reach out to her about playing at the market, so there’s always entertainment lined up.

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