When I woke up just before 5 a.m. on Saturday morning I
could hear the rain on my tin roof. But
neither rain nor the early hour did anything to dampen my enthusiasm. I was going to have the chance to share with
visiting travel media one of my very favourite Fredericton experiences: the
Boyce Farmer’s Market.
Part
of the charm of this Saturday morning tradition is that it's not just a quaint touristy spot but it’s genuinely
part of the life of the city cutting across all sections of the community each
with their own routine and rhythm. You
can practically set your watch by which group is populating the market at any
given time.
Arriving at the Brunswick St. entrance many of us made a bee
line through the food alley (we lost a few to the tempting aroma’s of Magzy’s
kettle corn, the new artisan pizzas and, unsurprisingly, the lobster rolls) and
headed straight for
Whitney Coffee. A cup of their fresh-roasted, fresh-brewed
coffee or cappuccino is my first stop at my normal market hour of 9 a.m. Before 7 a.m. it’s an absolute necessity!
Donna from Philadelphia was interested in maple syrup so coffees in hand we headed off to the old
part of the market where Leah Anstis was manning a stall of maple
products. Leah is the founder of
Local Foodies of Fredericton a group that holds workshops about skills
like canning, drying, freezing, preparing and growing your own food. During the week you can find Leah at
RealFood Connections
one of the leading players in Fredericton’s growing local food movement. Donna happily left with two bottles of local
maple syrup to take back to the States.
Our next stop was in search of chocolate. I’ve
written before about my love for
Choco Cocagne and Donna was charmed by their sweet samplers.
Chocolate in hand, Donna struck out on her own to explore the market and
I met up with Karan Smith. Karan and I
had exchanged emails before the conference so we were looking forward to
meeting in person. I took her around my
normal market routine. First stop:
au fond des bois fromagerie. Marina,
William and Patrick are originally from Belgium and came to Canada in
2005. Now based in Rexton, they produce
more than 20 different kinds of goat cheese which they sell along with other
products weekly at the Boyce Farmer’s Market.
On Saturday I treated myself to two rounds: their popular slightly sweet and smooth le
Barbizon and le Forban, a black pepper and garlic powerhous. Either one was going to be delicious tossed
with my next purchase…
Second generation market vendor Alison Toron (her parents
run Northern Lights Leather) and her partner Josh Dickison started
NashwaakNoodles in July 2010 and haven’t missed a market
Saturday since. Their fresh pasta is
one of my market faves. This week I went with their classic lemon-pepper
linguine. Check out Nashwaak Noodles on
Facebook for their flavor of the week.
My personal favourite is Picaroons Best Bitter and red pepper. They source local ingredients as much as
possible and good news: if you can’t
make the market, Nashwaak Noodles are now available through Real Food
Connections.
Next stop the
Gagetown Fruit Farm stall for some eggs. Matt Estabrooks and Heather Rhymes took over
Matt’s family farm a few years ago and their current products include produce,
baked goods, eggs and soups among other things. They are
chefs by trade and during the summer months you can sample their cooking at
their small restaurant in a converted barn on their farm in Gagetown. In the fall be sure to stop by the farm for
U-pick apples and pumpkins.
Goat cheese and eggs don’t exactly travel well so Karan was
on the lookout for something non-perishable that she could take back to Ontario
with her. Carloe Liu’s sweet
hand-carvedstamps and prints offered the perfect solution to the
packing dilemma. While Karan deliberated
over prints and cards. I picked up a pack
of York County Granola New Brunswick mix (with cranberries and pumpkin seeds)
from Jessica Breau at the next stall over.
The weather was still inclement but we decided to skip the
bus back to the hotel in favour of a little more market exploring and a walk
through downtown. Karan sampled some
of Van Dyck’s wild blueberry juice and some freshly-squeezed o.j. from Sam the
Juice man. We both happily accepted a
couple of steaming mugs of hot Coburn’s Cider to ward off the damp weather. Dave Coburn’s family has been a Fredericton
market presence since long before the current location opened 60 years ago. I picked up a jar of Family Favourite spiced
apple jelly from Sarah Ingersoll, Karan grabbed a soft pretzel from Rudolph’s Farm, Butchershop, and German Baking and we each bought a
bouquet of mayflowers from an older lady who told us she’s been picking and
selling mayflowers at the market since she was eight years old. Not to disclose a lady’s age but my guess is
that means she’s been selling mayflowers for as long as the Boyce has been
open. Now that’s a tradition!
Leaving the market through the food court – and a couple of
photo ops of Bardsley’s lobster rolls – we headed down Regent for Queen
Street. We talked about the summer
concert series at Officer’s Square and the classic movies on Sunday night at
Barracks Square. I told her in the 15
years since I moved to the city I’d seen a real rejuvenation of downtown with new shops and restaurants. Leaving the downtown core I pointed out the
Small Craft Aquatic centre where in the summer months you can rent kayaks and
canoes and see Fredericton from a different vantage point.
She was headed to the Delta and I live on the far west end
of Brunswick so we parted ways at Wilmot Park.
When I arrived back home it wasn’t even 9 a.m. yet but it had already
been a great Fredericton day.
