The Edmonton Downtown Farmers Market officially held its first event at its new location at the historic GWG Building on 97 Street on Saturday.
“We’re open, and look around. It’s very busy here. That means, to me, Edmonton is ready for this market,” said Dieter Kuhlmann, chair of the Edmonton Downtown Farmers Market.
“Everybody really loves it.”
The market has been in the process of moving into the building since March of this year. It spent the summer moving back and forth between its old outdoor location at 104 Street and a temporary outdoor location at 96 Street and 103 Avenue, as renovations were completed on the GWG Building.
“This is a building that is over 100 years old,” Kuhlmann said. “It was completely refurbished… so there’s always a lot of hiccups.”
Sixty vendors were at the market on Saturday, which has a capacity for 100.
There are also 1,000 free parking spots available for customers.
“This building is a gem,” said Ryan Mason, an Edmonton Downtown Farmers Market board member.
“We’ve been working on finding an indoor home dating back almost a decade ago.”
Currently all the vendors are operating on the first floor, as the market awaits final approvals and permits for the second floor.
The organization only got the go-ahead to open up on Friday, after it worked with the city, the building owner and AHS to get the required permits.
Hundreds of customers streamed through the doors for the first day at the new location.
“It’s really good to have another indoor permanent farmers market in Edmonton,” customer Harrison Sheremeta said.
“It’s just really good to see it [the building] have some life breathed into it.”
The market will be open year-round on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., at 10305 97 St NW.
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