PENTICTON – It was a first at Penticton’s Downtown Community Farmers’ Market: shoppers had a chance to sample and buy products from wineries and a local distillery.
“It’s history today,” says Katherine MacKenzie with Red Rooster Winery.
MacKenzie happy to have a new venue for the winery’s vintages.
“They are able to try the wine and purchase the wine right here. So if they are doing that one stop shop buying the groceries down at the farmers market. They can come up here and grab the wine for dinner,” says MacKenzie.
The province said beer, wine, cider and spirits could be sampled and sold at farmers markets back in June.
However, it took time to get local approval to bring liquor sales to the market.
“We had to create policy. We had to propose that to city hall and then city hall had to change their bylaw to allow alcohol into the outdoor markets,” says Kerri Milton, the executive director for the Downtown Penticton Association.
At the Kelowna Farmers’ and Crafters’ Market there are no liquor sales yet.
They still have a few more hoops to jump through.
They must get permission from the property owner before making an application to the city to change zoning.
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