Introduction
The Haney Farmer Markets was created with a goal of bringing the community closer and having a place to enjoy, relax and support the local economy. The market also provides an opportunity for an individual or community to perform their talent to the neighbours.
The event’s participants depend on the date and here are some of the vendors that are featured in the event:
- Kizzy’s Macarons (Specialty Bakery)
- Sweet Thea Bakery (Bread)
- Aji Gourmet Product (Sauces, spices and seasoning)
- Triple Creek Farm (Fruit)
- Golden Ears Cheesecrafters
The Haney Farmer Markets started back in 2004 when the Building Community Solution was looking at issues about poverty, youth and building a healthy community. In the end, they find that Haney Farmer Markets could be a way to bring the community closer and it would be a great way for people to get involved in the neighbourhood.
Location
Address: 11925 Haney Place, Maple Ridge, British Columbia V2X 6G2
Media Present
Currently, Haney farm Market is having its own website, which is https://www.haneyfarmersmarket.org. They also have a facebook, twitter and email if you want to ask any questions and their response time is pretty quick.
Atmosphere and Decoration
We luckily had a chance to go to the farmers market on an occasional sunny day of the rainy season. The view of the market showed up peacefully and delightfully in tender weather, giving us the feeling of a fantastic journey forward. Just after going through the gate, our team quickly realized yes, we had made a great decision to go here. Honestly, I really love the idea that people decide to hold a farmers market featuring fresh ingredients in an area that usually used as a park. Literally, a market erected on the green grass and encompassed by green trees is such an ideal place to visit on a sunny day, making me feel like going on a picnic, even nicer, with food all around!
Everybody in my team could not wait to have a walk and explore the area. There was a variety of fresh vegetables, fruits, also many unique ornaments and souvenirs on surrounding stalls with food counters displaying many kinds of tasty-looking dessert and drink, all fragrant and absolutely appetizing. Can not forget to mention, the modest but graceful decoration with ribbons and banners from every booth further emphasized the soothing and tranquil atmosphere of the event, so lovely! In the center of the market located a small stage for musical concerts. Accordingly, about five small round tables with a few chairs around each neatly placed there for people to take a seat, listen to music or chat with each other while enjoying the food. The sound not only came from people talking, selling and buying, but also the music performance of dedicated musicians constituted an amazingly beautiful harmony. Genuinely, we are so glad to gain such a good experience for ourselves, and maybe you can have a worthy one for yourself too, let’s go and check it out, highly recommended.
Sustainability Concerns
After having a trip around the market and trying the products that were displayed on many food stalls, we could quickly realize the great concern of the event holders for the environment and the sustainability issues. Every seller there offered us with paper and compostable bags to have our food to go. Amazingly, when one member of our group bought a cup of cranberry juice from the beverage booth, we all assumed it was a plastic cup at first glance until we noticed the note saying “100% compostable” at the bottom. Yet, it was undeniable that the straw still plastic; sadly, they could have made that better.
Event theme – “Green market”
We went to Haney Farmer’s market on October 5th and their theme for this year is “They had plenty varieties of fresh local vegetables that were sold at a very low price. There were around 20 tenants selling different healthy goods. The environment was so fresh, friendly and healthy. Their theme all throughout the year is always “collaboration: with the city, non-profits, volunteers, businesses and funders, and with other agricultural and food association”. Everyone was so alive while watching the mini-concert, walking the pets and especially the food! I will mention all the food we tried.
Food and beverage
Spicy Jalapeño bannock
$3.00
The first we tried since the lineup for this stall was always long and he said “bannock” originally came from Europe. The jalapeño cheese was so good when fried together with the other special ingredients and while it’s hot.
Cinnamon Sugar- fritter
$12.00 for 5 pieces
My group’s favorite! We finished 12 pieces in less than 5 minutes. If you look at the food, it’s plain and nothing fancy but the moment you take a bite, it will blow your mind away!
Lavender Lemonade Donut
$6.00
Very unique flavor! The mixture of lemon filling and the lavender scent goes very well together. This donut is just so good. You should definitely try it!
Coco Cream Sandwich
$4.00
Rich flavor of coconut ice cream sandwich in cookies. I am not a fan of coconut flavor but this is good. One of our groupmates, Harry loves it! Cold food for cold weather. Not bad for $4.00 and it was made from scratched according to the vendor.
Integration of f&b trends
We felt that the market is cherishing the current f&b trends. As we mentioned before, there were lots of kinds of foods, however, there was nothing oily, meaty, or unhealthy. They seemed like they are trying to provide something as healthy as possible. So what makes it healthy? We realized one of the points in common between foods is being low caloric. Their foods were acceptably small and also light in terms of taste. More importantly, they have international foods such as Bannock from Scotland and Indian soup. During these few decades, people are more interested in globally shared traditional foods and eager to try them. Therefore, having foods from a bunch of countries or areas is quite significant.
Service
We honestly reckon that the service of this market plays an important role and has a good match with the atmosphere and f&b which have been mentioned earlier in this blog. First of all, this might be obvious but there were good shapes of chairs and tables which avoid us from sitting right on the ground and having food there. Moreover, these stuff are located in front of a stage where singers perform so we could enjoy snacks and juice with nicely played music. Payment was also smooth and convenient as they had machines to allow us using debit and credit cards. I did not expect that they had machines so I withdrew some cash but, I actually did not need to do so. Entering into the market is basically free whereas some markets cost to come in. Every product is nicely sized and priced so that we did not really need to spend a lot of money there. When we go somewhere we have never been to, knowing where we are now is quite important as it helps us determine where the next destination is. In this perspective, the market helped us a lot as we could find a map there. That illustrates our current position and locations of every single store.
Lastly and most surprisingly, there was a massage service in the market! All you need to do is just sitting down and getting relaxed. I excitedly tried this for 15 minutes. I was actually feeling sleepy as I woke up in the early morning but after the massage, I felt twice as energetic as usual! That was amazing!
Cleanliness
The first moment when we entered the market, we could see that the space is really clean and we can see there are a lot of bins located all over the place. When we take a look at each vendor, they are quite well-organized and clean as well.
Reference
