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Red Deer Public Market’s 2022 season ends

The Red Deer Public Market’s 2022 season has come to an end and vendors are saying the year was a big success.
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Ryley Woodward, with Innisfail Growers, organizes the vendor booth during the final Red Deer Public Market of the 2022 season on Saturday. (Photo by Sean McIntosh/Advocate staff)

The Red Deer Public Market’s 2022 season has come to an end and vendors are saying the year was a big success.

“It’s been a great season. We love Red Deer,” said Elizabeth Brault, who owns Franbeta Farms with her husband Francois in Wetaskiwin.

“Positive comments from the customers keep us coming back. As a farmer you never get to hear that. But here when people say, ‘Your corn is so good,’ or, ‘I’m coming next week, I’ll bring my friends,’ It keeps us coming back each week.”

The family-operated farm has been coming to the Red Deer Public Market for about 20 years.

“You get to know everybody in the area of your booth. We have lots of fun. When you’ve been doing this as long as us, you get to know lots of vendors,” she said.

Jasmine Abuelhawa, owner of Cali Trading Co. Foods, would attend the market every other weekend – she would also go to other markets during the summer.

“The Red Deer market is always really busy, so it’s worth coming to. It’s been good to us,” she said.

There was a Cali Trading Co. Foods location in Lacombe, but it unfortunately had to shut down after the pandemic. The market season has been big lift, Abuelhawa noted.

“We’re able to get customers and the word out there. People are asking where to find us and they are coming back. We did salsa in the summer – we had to end it until next year – and people were coming back to ask where they can get it,” she said.

Ryley Woodward, with Innisfail Growers, said the Red Deer Public Market season was a success as well.

“We’re out here every Saturday. We do a lot of markets – we also have three indoor markets,” said Woodward.

“The markets helps us promote everything and then we can promote our indoor markets really easily. People like to come outside, especially during the summertime. People get used to everything and you let them know it’s available all year round.”

Innisfail Growers is made up of five central Alberta farms: Beck Farms, Edgar Farms, Upper Green Farms, the Jungle Farm and Hillside Greenhouses.

Patrick Moffat, who co-manages the market with his sister Fiona, praised the vendors who participated in the 2022 season, which was the 52nd in the market’s history.

“They’ve been awesome this year. They’ve been here through thick and thin in years past, but they got spoiled this year because there were very few weeks with bad weather,” he said.

“We’ve been happy to see more senior citizens come out and families with their kids come out. With COVID we didn’t see that as much. They’re starting to come back to the market and it’s really promising to see for the vendors.”



sean.mcintosh@reddeeradvocate.com

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Sean McIntosh

About the Author: Sean McIntosh

Sean joined the Red Deer Advocate team in the summer of 2017. Originally from Ontario, he worked in a small town of 2,000 in Saskatchewan for seven months before coming to Central Alberta.
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