{"id":65429,"date":"2015-11-23T08:31:56","date_gmt":"2015-11-23T14:31:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=65429"},"modified":"2015-11-23T22:10:51","modified_gmt":"2015-11-24T04:10:51","slug":"the-halifax-seaport-farmers-market-perfect-mosaic-of-the-city-for-visitors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2015\/11\/23\/the-halifax-seaport-farmers-market-perfect-mosaic-of-the-city-for-visitors\/","title":{"rendered":"The Halifax Seaport Farmers’ Market perfect mosaic of the city for visitors"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"(Photo<\/a>
(Photo from Halifax Farmers’ Market website<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

HALIFAX–A walk through the aisles of the Halifax Seaport Farmers’ Market is an experience that’s quintessentially Nova Scotian.<\/p>\n

As thousands of the port city’s residents and visitors stroll slowly through the rows of stalls on a Saturday morning, they pass piles of fresh produce, locally-made cheeses, glistening seafood and hand-made crafts, savouring the rich smells and bright colours before winding up the morning with some live music outside.<\/p>\n

Mary Ann LaPierre of Hillcrest Farm, whose family has been selling produce at the market every Saturday since the late 1800s, says it’s a perfect introduction to the province.<\/p>\n

“(You get to) see the people of Nova Scotia, see what’s growing here and how we live.”<\/p>\n

Established in 1750, a year after Halifax itself was founded, the market is the oldest continuously operating farmers’ market in North America.<\/p>\n

“It’s still basically the same, selling one-on-one to customers, but it’s changed quite a bit,” said LaPierre.<\/p>\n

Over the years, the market’s location has changed a few times, but it finally found a permanent home in a vast and airy new building in the Seaport on the city’s waterfront in 2010.<\/p>\n

The 46,672 square-foot facility now hosts more than 250 vendors from 50 countries.<\/p>\n

Julie Chaisson, executive director of the market, says it reflects the diversity of Halifax and Canada as a whole.<\/p>\n

“When you walk through a market, you see the true character of the city,” she says. “It’s a really great mosaic for the heart of that city.”<\/p>\n

On any given weekend, Chaisson says 15,000 people come through the market, which has grown from its origins as a meat market to a bustling showcase of everything from locally-made sushi to polish perogies to custom-made handbags.<\/p>\n

“Anything you can make, bake, grow or catch,” says Chaisson.<\/p>\n

In the early years, heading down to the market became a way of life for many farmers<\/a><\/strong>. As well as a place of business, the market offered an opportunity to reconnect with friends and catch up on the news of the week.<\/p>\n

People would travel up to 65 kilometres each way, often by horse and wagon, to sell their goods.<\/p>\n

LaPierre remembers her 90-minute long rides fondly.<\/p>\n

“I was small,” she says. “We used to drive the old truck. If we got 30 miles an hour out of it, we were lucky.”<\/p>\n

“That’s what took us so long.”<\/p>\n

Back then, whichever farmer arrived first got the best spot, which meant LaPierre and her family had to leave early.<\/p>\n

Some of LaPierre’s favourite memories from the market are the people she’s met, from her weekly regulars to some big-time celebrities.<\/p>\n

“I met Prince Charles here and I met Roberta Bondar, the first Canadian lady in space.”<\/p>\n

The market is part of the Halifax Seaport, which is where the cruise ships dock and is also home to the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21.<\/p>\n

“A lot of the cruise ship people come in and they’re quite surprised to see all the things we have here in Nova Scotia,” says LaPierre.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HALIFAX–A walk through the aisles of the Halifax Seaport Farmers’ Market is an experience that’s quintessentially Nova Scotian. As thousands …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":65433,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[79],"tags":[35],"class_list":["post-65429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-travel","tag-original","mauthors-ben-cousins","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65429"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65429\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}