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UVic hosts first fall market

The University of Victoria is feeding the empty days between summer markets and winter craft fairs with a farmers’ market of its own.

The University of Victoria is feeding the empty days between summer markets and winter craft fairs with a farmers’ market of its own.

The UVic sustainability team is launching community market in the Student Union Building on Wednesday evening, an inaugural event featuring locally grown organic veggies, live music and a pumpkin carving contest.

“It’s not just a farmers market, it’s a local community market. It’s a community building exercise,” said Rita Fromholt, UVic’s sustainability co-ordinator and market organizer.

“It’s all about healthy eating and students are really interested in food security issues.”

The UVic market catches the late edge of what was a long growing season, but Fromholt expects farmers to bring apples, pumpkins, squash, pears, cabbage, tomatoes and peppers. Hosting it in the fall also avoids adding to the well-saturated summer farmers’ markets across Greater Victoria, and gives students a chance to buy local organic veggies.

“We did a survey of vendors downtown, at Moss Street and in James Bay (markets) and response was positive, but there are a lot of summer markets,” Fromholt noted. “Everyone wants local and organic, but there are limited number of farmers. Fall is better for the farmers and the campus.”

The event will draw vendors who offer jams, sauces and honey, a student knitting club, folk bands, canning demos, pie making workshops and Celtic and fiddle bands.

The UVic community market is Wednesday, Oct. 24, 4 to 7 p.m. in the Michele Pujol Room of the SUB.

James Bay and Metchosin are hosting their last respective farmers’ markets of the season on Saturday Oct. 27, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., at Menzies and Superior Streets; and Sunday, Oct. 28, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. 4450 Happy Valley Rd.

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