CORNWALL, Ontario – The Cornwall Kinsmen Farmers’ Market kicked off their soft opening this Sunday, May 28 at the St. Lawrence College parking lot.
The brainchild of Cornwall Kinsmen Club House Director, Monte Yancey, who is a massage therapist. Being in the healthcare industry, Yancey says that he hopes the market helps change people’s buying patterns.
“You tell your clients they need to eat
The market is producer-only, meaning that everything for sale is grown or produced by the people selling it. It also boasts an all-local assortment of vendors, with the bulk of them being from SD&G.
Kinsmen Club Secretary, Neil Benjamin was also instrumental in the planning of the Kinsmen Market and says that he’s ‘absolutely overwhelmed’ by the community response.
“We didn’t know what to expect, or how well we’d reached everybody, but apparently word of mouth and social media has brought us a really busy market today,” said Benjamin.
Benjamin says that he thinks that the city’s changing focus on health is partly to thank for the excellent turnout.
“It’s something that Cornwall has been building on for a while now,” said Benjamin.
Yancey says that when they first started reaching out to vendors, they wanted to accommodate the vendor’s needs first.
“They were really struck by that,” said Yancey. “We’re really looking to service both sides. We’re a service organization, so we’re always trying to find out ‘how can we help’?”
With the market already receiving a tremendous amount of support, the Official Grand Opening is set to take place Sunday, June 11.