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Future of Saskatoon Farmers' Market not so sweet, vendor says

Michelle Zimmer has run her business, Wild Serendipity Foods, out of the Farmers' Market for more than a decade but is worried the market may be a victim of its own success.

Baker concerned about market potentially getting extended hours

Danny Kerslake · CBC News ·
Michelle Zimmer says her days at the Saskatoon Farmers' Market are over because she is worried a new lease agreement with the city will demand that vendors open more often. (Courtesy Michelle Zimmer )

Saskatoon's Michelle Zimmer is an expert in French macarons, the sweet meringue-based cookie, and she also knows a thing or two about the Farmers' Market.

Zimmer has run her business, Wild Serendipity Foods, out of the market for more than a decade but is worried the market may be a victim of its own success.

"There has sort of been a push to be open more days a week," Zimmer told CBC Radio's Saskatoon Morning. "It's just two very different philosophies I guess."

Michelle Zimmer has run her business, Wild Serendipity Foods, out of the market for more than a decade.

Baker plans to leave

On one side, Zimmer said, there are vendors who want the market to stay true to its roots, and there are others who want to see it evolve into something resembling The Forks in Winnipeg, or Granville Island in Vancouver.  

Zimmer is planning to leave the market.

She bakes all of her wares from scratch and said that there are just not enough days in the week to do all the work that's needed and keep her booth open.  

"It's just not possible and even hiring staff you would be losing money on the non-busy days. Basically, I would have a hobby in the end and not a business," Zimmer said. "It's not feasible for someone to do all the work themselves."

The lease agreement with the Farmers' Market does not expire until 2019. (Saskatoon Farmers' Market/Facebook)

Agreement in place until 2019

In the end, she argued that pushing do-it-all vendors out by demanding they open up more often will fill the market with re-sellers, and it's another reason she is leaving.

In response, the city said that the lease agreement with the Farmers' Market does not expire until 2019, and negotiations have not yet begun.

with files from Saskatoon Morning

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