Fredericton Boyce Farmers Market celebrating 70 years of food, farming and fostering community
On Dec. 20, 1930, David Coburn’s grandfather sold 24 pounds of butter for $8.16 and four and a half dozen eggs for $2.25 at the farmer’s market, which was outside Fredericton’s city hall.
Wearing a heavy bear coat, he would take his goods by sleigh along the icy river on a Friday, stay in a hotel, and attend the market in the morning.
It looks a little different today, but Coburn says the value of a market to a farmer remains the same.
“I’m a sixth generation farmer and I know we can trace back that we’ve been going back to the farmer’s market at least four generations. But I suspect it goes back to the sixth,” he said. “The first market in Fredericton was actually started in 1815. And of course, it was a way of survival, to get food and goods to the people.”
In 1951, the Fredericton Boyce Farmers Market was realized. Coburn Farms has been there from the beginning.
Coburn says the market is about connecting consumers with the people that grow their food, while also fostering community – and perhaps, a little Saturday gossip.
“It doesn’t matter whether you have a dollar in your pocket or $1,000 in your pocket, at the Boyce Market, you get treated the same,” he said. “The other thing I noticed when I was younger, you would see people talking at the market when they wouldn’t even speak to each other out on Queen Street through the week. It’s a leveling out of society at the market.”
Market chair Stacey Russell says the pandemic has been challenging. But as the Fredericton fixture celebrates its 70th year, it’s getting back on its feet.
“We’re now at, I believe, about 110 vendors and that’s still growing every week,” she said. “So that experience is there and we definitely want to make sure people understand that the Fredericton Boyce Farmers Market is open and in many ways, back to its normal self.”
It’s consistently made lists of top farmers’ markets in Canada and is a favourite for university students who, Russell says, soon become long-time customers.
Coburn has a market museum in one of his barns at his Keswick Ridge farm. Pictures of markets from Saturdays-past line the walls, along with a certificate marking its 50th year.
“It’s where rural meets urban,” he said. “It’s where you can talk directly to who produces the goods that you’re buying and that’s the magical part of it.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
MPP Sarah Jama asked to leave Ontario legislature for wearing keffiyeh
MPP Sarah Jama was asked to leave the Legislative Assembly of Ontario by House Speaker Ted Arnott on Thursday for wearing a keffiyeh, a garment which has been banned at Queen’s Park.
Mountain guide dies after falling into a crevasse in Banff National Park
A man who fell into a crevasse while leading a backcountry ski group deep in the Canadian Rockies has died.
2 teens charged in Halifax homicide: police
Two teenagers have been charged with second-degree murder in connection to an alleged homicide near the Halifax Shopping Centre earlier this week.
'Deep ignorance': Calls for Manitoba trustee to resign sparked after comments about Indigenous people and reconciliation
A rural Manitoba school trustee is facing calls to resign over comments he made about Indigenous people and residential schools earlier this week.
ByteDance prefers TikTok shutdown in U.S. if legal options fail, Reuters sources say
TikTok owner ByteDance would prefer to shut down its loss-making app rather than sell it if the Chinese company exhausts all legal options to fight legislation to ban the platform from app stores in the U.S., four sources said.
12-year-old hippo in Japan raised as a male discovered to be a female
When Gen-chan arrived at a zoo in Japan in 2017, no one questioned whether the then-five-year-old hippopotamus was a boy. Seven years later, zoo staff made a surprising discovery: Gen-chan, now 12, was female.
Here's why Harvey Weinstein's New York rape conviction was tossed and what happens next
Here's what you need to know about why movie mogul Harvey Weinstein's rape conviction was thrown out and what happens next.
Improve balance and build core strength with this exercise
When it comes to cardiovascular fitness, you may tend to focus on activities that move you forward, such as walking, running and cycling.
Legendary hockey broadcaster Bob Cole dies at 90: CBC
Bob Cole, a welcome voice for Canadian hockey fans for a half-century, has died at the age of 90. Cole died Wednesday night in St. John's, N.L., surrounded by his family, his daughter, Megan Cole, told the CBC.