The Guelph Farmers' Market is adding a new day of the week this summer.
Take Home Thursdays begin this week, and will run from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
"It's going to allow more businesses, more local food businesses, to maximize and energize the market," said Anterra Vsetula-Sheffield, the Guelph Farmers' Market activator with 10C Shared Space.
It won't be the same as Saturday, which has seen the traditional 7 a.m. to noon market for over 200 years.
But she said Thursday is open to those Saturday vendors who want to try another day of the week.
"At this point, it's not opening all of the booths that are available on Saturdays," Vsetula-Sheffield said. "That's not the goal of this market."
"It's rather to provide another time and space for more pop-up style vending, with the option of vending regularly. We have a few Saturday vendors that are so all-in and excited to expand on another day."
The Thursday market will run until November, and the plan is to gauge its success and see if they'll implement it in future years.
"There is absolutely always going to be extra market days," she added. "That's something the community has said that they want, and something that 10C wants to provide. There's enough vendors to really fill up more than one day of the week, so that's something that 10C is really dedicated to, is having markets on other days, other than Saturday."
In addition to Take Home Thursdays, 10C is planning to take the farmers market to the digital sphere.
Beginning in July, they will be opening up an online store, which will allow vendors to list products for sale online through 10C.
"(Vendors) won't have to staff a vending booth, but rather people can pre-order them, and we will distribute them at the market," Vsetula-Sheffield said.
