Last week was the official half way point of our market season, and the end of the season brings the end of our photo contest! Any market goers who consider themselves shutterbugs (amateur or expert!), snap away at the markets and send your pictures to us via Twitter, Flikr or email (links below)! Remember the last market is October 6th and we need your pictures by then!
And guess what?!?! With your photo submission you will be entered to win a fabulous gift basket! Hurray! Included in the basket will be:
- A private tasting for 4 to our favourite local New Westminster winery Pacific Breeze Winery, valued at $100
- Tea for two every month for a year at Great Wall Tea Co, located in River Market, valued at $72
- Two annual subscriptions to Edible Vancouver Magazine: be greedy and have two years all for yourself, or be generous and have one for yourself and one for a lucky friend! Valued at $62.72
And there could be more surprise prizes coming!
For more information check here: http://rcfm.ca/market-photos/
To submit photos via: Twitter
Email – marketmanager@rcfm.ca
Thanks so much to our sponsors:
Postal Strike Update: We really appreciate that many of you are signing up at the markets to be a member in the 2011 season. We have benefits for members – check them out!
We wanted to let you know that we have your membership cards at the Info Desk at the market until the postal strike is over, at which time we will mail the letters.
Coupons from the 2009 program
RCFM is thrilled to be able to announce that we are funding the Nutrition Coupon Program for the 2011 Summer Season thanks to a City Partnership Grant from the City of New Westminster and working with our friends at The Hospitality Project out of Shiloh Sixth Avenue United Church. This program provides 50 families with $15 in coupons to be spent on fresh produce, meat, dairy, eggs, seafood, unprocessed nuts, bread, and honey at the market, as well as a skill building and educational component for the participants so they can learn how to utilize all of the amazing foods available to us here in beautiful British Columbia.
The provincial government funded this program on a provincial level with the BC Association of Farmers Markets in the 2009 season, and RCFM was grateful to be selected as a participant market, but sadly, the funding was cut with only a few weeks to go before we started in 2010. We were not able to fund it ourselves in 2010 and so the program lay dormant last year.
But 2011 is a new year! We are very grateful the City of New Westminster approved our funding application and can’t wait for this program to begin. If you’re interested in helping the program to share your food knowledge with program participants, or can help us secure funding for future years, we’d love to hear from you. Please email us at info@rcfm.ca
Also: Check out the recent article in the Record or listen to the News 1130 interview with RCFM’s Jen Arbo about the 2011 Nutrition Coupon Program.
Photo by Miranda McMurray
We’re recently put the finishing touches on our 2010 Annual Report. Please have a look to find our what we did this year, and what we’re looking forward to in the future.
We are thrilled to announce the details of our Annual General Meeting. It will take place Saturday February 5th at Holy Trinity Cathedral located at 514 Carnarvon Street – it’s the same place as our winter market. Doors open at 5:30PM and light refreshments will be served.
Memberships for the 2011 season will be available for $10. In order to vote or stand for election for our Board of Directors, you must be a member. Cash and cheque are accepted. The AGM will be called to order at 6PM. All are welcome to attend and we encourage you to bring a friend to come and see what RCFM is all about. Get involved!
From 7-7:30 we’ll have an intermission and social in the lounge, and at 7:30, for the first time in New Westminster, a special public screening of The Clean Bin Project will take place. The Clean Bin Project was originally a contest between three friends to live waste free for a year. It has since become a highly acclaimed documentary and valuable resource for info on lowering your waste.
Admission for the film screening is a very special price of $3 for 2011 members of RCFM, and a sliding scale of $5-$10 for general admission. This is a must see documentary 76 minutes in length. Jen and Grant will be on hand to present their film and will be available afterward for questions and answers.
Any questions, please don’t hesitate to email us at info@rcfm.ca
We are very thrilled that Translink has donated a number of goodies that you can enter to win! All you will have to do is show proof that you took transit to the market (a transfer or your monthly pass) and you will be entered to win great fleece jackets or a 3 zone monthly pass for whatever month you choose! There are different prizes every month, and there is one prize per month. Winners will be notified after the market.
The winter market is located right next to Columbia Skytrain station and is easy to get to. Simply exit the station via the Church Street exit, and you’ll run right into Holy Trinity Cathedral.
We are also very excited that The City of New Westminster has once again sponsored our winter market and is allowing free parking all day at the Downtown Waterfront Parkade. The parkade is located only a short distance from the market site. To get to it, enter off Columbia Street at 4th Street. We encourage you to carpool! Bring a friend and introduce them to the market.
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The winter market starts November 13th and runs once a month on the second Saturday of the month from 10AM to 2PM until April at Holy Trinity Cathedral.
We are very pleased to announce that RCFM will again be putting on a once-monthly winter market for this upcoming 2010-2011 winter season! You told us you loved being able to get market goodies all year long and we’ve heard you!
Winter market will take place at the same location as last year – at Holy Trinity Cathedral’s hall, located at 514 Carnarvon Street. The Hall is near Columbia Skytrain Station and is only a short distance from our summer spot.
Photo by Briana Tomkinson
Winter Market will be on the second Saturday of the month from November to April – November 13, December 11, January 8, February 12, March 12, and April 9 – from 10AM to 2PM.
We will be sure to bring you music, entertainment, and as many kids’ activities as we can cram in there!
Photo by Briana Tomkinson
If you’re a vendor interested in applying, please download the guidelines, application form, and if necessary, the Fraser Health Authority’s applications here. We encourage you to get your forms in as soon as possible. Last year, table spaces did sell out quickly. Craft panel will take place in September – dates TBA.
PS: Here’s a movie about last year’s winter market, courtesy of Emerson Eve Productions.
RCFM – Winter Market from Royal City Farmers Market on Vimeo.
Check out this awesome video about our market filmed and edited by local Laura Cuthbert. Our thanks to Laura for granting us permission to link to it. Some of you may recognize Laura as one of the Olympic torch bearers in our fair city. We’d like to think she’s carrying the torch for our market now. We also think she’s a member of Team Eggplant.
What better way to kick off our 2010 Summer Season than with a lovely social fundraiser at the Heritage Grill?
The Heritage Grill by Dennis Hurd
The 3rd Annual RCFM fundraiser is happening Wednesday June 2nd, from 6PM till whenever we close the place down, and will feature your choice of pasta entrée or burger entrée (with four burger types to select from!) and your choice of glass draft or house wine. We’ll also be featuring a silent auction with great goodies donated by our wonderful supporters. Its a great way to meet like minded people. Tickets are just $20 and are available bycalling 778 928 7236 or emailing info@rcfm.ca or by stopping by the Village Coffee Lounge at 705 12th Street.
It’s going to be a great time!
Jen, Will, and Jocelyn at the 2009 Fundraiser - photo by Jocelyn Tomkinson
On May 8th, the Vancouver Farmers Markets will be kicking off its summer season. It seems really early to me – not because we don’t have the requests to start early from both shoppers and vendors -but because I’m currently deep in the middle of allocation and scheduling and approving new vendors and May 8th seems so close! Good luck to our Vancouver Market friends!
I frequently get asked if I feel that other market organizations are competition and I prefer to think of all the other markets as similar teams running the same marathon. We all have our own goals but we sure can train together. It’s great to connect with other markets during this planning stage and share and learn from one another. Whenever I can, I like to visit other markets and see what’s working for them. RCFM is a relatively new organization – this will only be our third summer season – and there is much to learn!
Our summer season returns to Tipperary Park on June 10th from 3-7. We’re pleased to be starting earlier and adding two extra weeks to our season, bringing it to a total of 18. This year we are planning as many kids activities as possible, and we’ll continue to have music at every market. We’ll also going to introduce a few new things this year, one of which is at least two Member Appreciation Days where organization members will get discounts and deals and special offers from participating vendors.
One this is for sure, this is going to be a fantastic season! We asked you last year what you wanted us to improve and we appreciate all the feedback. Many of you felt that there were more than enough craft fairs in the area, and wanted to see more food vendors, so we are increasing the food vendors to 90% of the market, and allocating only 10% to arts and crafts. We’re shooting for 50-60% fresh food vendors at each and 30-40% prepared goods. We’re also going to work hard to bring a greater variety of community groups and services to the market so that you can check out the great work non-profits are doing to help improve New Westminster. We will still operate Art in the Park (and are looking for artists who are interested in our open air free art gallery) and continue to bring you a great community event each week.
Stay tuned for info about our 3rd Annual Fundraiser!
