A proposal is in the works to unlock more days at the Guelph Farmers' Market, which is currently only utilized about five hours a week.
Earlier in the spring the City of Guelph began working on new policies and procedures and also requested expressions of interest from the community on how to make better use of the building.
The city had been hearing concerns from market vendors and customers about outdated policies and procedures, lack of funding and staffing challenges.
10C Shared Space put forth a proposal to continue its work as a community builder bringing people and ideas together, said its executive director Julia Grady in a phone interview.
“The big thing we could bring to this is community collaboration, almost like being a container for a variety of different organizations to host events, think of what can be hosted in that space in the other hours, including the outdoor area behind, and then processes and structures to make that happen," said Grady.
Although it does host the occasional special event, Grady said the farmers' market is usually active only about five hours a week and usually only on Saturdays.
“The city is not really resourced in a way to activate all of the other hours so they need collaborators to support in that and that is one of the roles for 10C in its existing space,” she said.
Grady said 10C will bring its existing partnerships to the market proposal, as well as work toward building new ones. It has already begun to collect information from people and groups interested in contributing to the project if it goes ahead.
So far it has signed up Guelph Arts Council, the SEED, the Guelph Chamber of Commerce, Innovation Guelph, the Guelph Tool Library and the Guelph Neighbourhood Support Coalition.
Guelph city council will vote on the 10C proposal at a meeting on July 5. If approved, city staff will begin the process of negotiating with 10C on a final proposal that would come back to council later in the year.
“We’re really excited about the potential of this partnership to bring new energy to the market,” said Jayne Holmes, the City’s deputy chief administrative officer for Infrastructure, Development and Enterprise services. “10C has put together an inspiring and thoughtful proposal that leverages the unique strengths of a number of community organizations with a diverse range of services including food security, the arts and entrepreneurship.”
City staff is also seeking an approval from city council for a refreshed Farmers’ Market vision, mission and goals. The new goals were developed to build on the success of the Saturday Farmers’ Market and ensure the tradition continues.
“10C’s proposal is aimed at helping to fulfil the ambitious vision, mission and goals for the Farmers’ Market, a job the City could not do as well on its own,” said John Regan, general manager of Economic Development and Tourism for the City. “Their collaborative, multi-organization approach is a key benefit of their proposal.”
