The coffee is on at the Northside Creators Market.
In 2020, the previous Northside Market closed permanently, leaving many vendors and businesses without a home or a place to sell products.
It ended up being a big topic of conversation, according to board member Jeremy MacFarlane, who also owns Freddy Bean Roasters.
He said a group of seven business owners decided to get together after the lack of a market on the northside became a topic during the 2020 municipal elections.
“We got seven of us together,” he said. “With that business owner, we sat and talked for several hours about how we could start a new market. Two weeks later, we started a market.”
Originally, the market operated on Saturday at the Picaroons location on Union Street, also on the north side of the city.
It has now relocated to Main Street, nestled in the middle of a small mall, and has about 45 different vendors.
The Northside Creators Market is vendor-operated and hosts a variety of local businesses that also make all their own products.
“We started this, amongst a global pandemic, and we’re quite proud of that,” MacFarlane said. “A lot of people were saddened by the loss of the Northside Market — all the vendors all lost that avenue of revenue, so we wanted to start something.”
Now, it’s looking to add more vendors.
MacFarlane said there is room for about a dozen more booths in the market, adding that the market is a place where businesses can grow.
“You come in, you start small, a small booth, you grow your business,” he said. “A lot of businesses in Fredericton have started that way. You’ve got Rocket Burger, ButterCream Dreams, you’ve got Street Greek, you’ve got PJ Wings and Things. All these businesses have started in a market and now they’ve got their own successful brick and mortar location.”
Many businesses said they are flourishing with the new market.
Dylan Gaudet is the owner of Spicy Boys, a small-batch hot sauce producer.
“We actually got our legs under us at the Northside Creators Market,” he said in an interview Sunday. “Social media is how we found out about it and, since then, our business has expanded to over 30 retailers in Atlantic Canada.”
He said they’ve also been able to attend most of the major hot sauce expos in Canada.
“As a pandemic company, obviously, that’s a pretty big accomplishment,” Gaudet said. “So, it’s been amazing for us from the start.”
George Haines, who has a booth with jams and preserves, said he’s been making them since he was about nine years old with his mother.
He was at the previous northside market and was eager to jump back in.
“It was devastating,” he said of the previous market closure. “I had 150 made ahead and no place to sell them.”
Marie Chisholm, who owns the Wooly Pig Pie & Pastry, said she too was one of the previous vendors of the northside market and her business all but died when it closed.
“When it closed up, we did deliveries during the pandemic,” she said.
She went online, as many did during the pandemic, and has made the most of that until the Northside Creators Market became an option.
“We’ve been introduced to a lot of new customers every week,” she said. “We have customers coming saying, ‘We’ve seen you on Facebook,’ because we are on Facebook. So, new customers, our returning customers, are all back, so it’s been good.”
The market is open on both Saturday and Sunday and is located at 170 Main Street.