Wil Andruschak

The Calgary Farmers' Market has signed a lease for a new southeast Calgary location, but many vendors don't know where their new home will be.

Many vendors at the Calgary Farmers’ Market are angry, worried, fearful and frustrated. That’s according to Wade Sirois, who has a front row seat at the drama recently unfolding at the market.

The market has had a tumultuous year — first the market learned it would be kicked out of the Currie Barracks, and then, more recently, it almost lost its farmers’ market status, the general manager was fired, and then the market signed a lease for its future home. And now, some vendors are ready to jump ship.

“It’s just one thing after another: vendors don’t know where they are going to be in a year and a bit from now.” says Sirois, one of the market’s biggest customers and co-owner of Forage and Infuse Catering. “They haven’t been involved in the process of finding a new space.” Lately, when Sirois, a chef, regularly shops at the market, vendors are often expressing their discontent.

Numerous vendors were approached by Fast Forward Weekly, and almost all refused to speak about the matter, fearing repercussions. That’s because there is a clause in the vendors’ contracts restricting them from discussing market operations with the media. Some who had talked were fined, says vendor Ron Hamilton, owner of Sunworks Farms. “The control is almost to the point of paranoia,” he says.

Other vendors would only say they are too often in the dark. “I don’t really know what’s going on,” one vendor says.

Some outspoken vendors are afraid their livelihoods will be taken away, Sirois says. “There are people fearing for the lives of their stands because in a snap of fingers they could be booted out.”

Of the 80 to 85 regular vendors, 25 are members who vote on market decisions, says market board president Rodney Bradshaw, adding the remaining vendors are informed of those decisions “when they become fact.”

“We keep the vendors informed to the best of our ability,” he adds.

According to Sirois, a lack of communication by market administration toward vendors is sometimes so extreme, he recalls vendors breaking down and crying when they opened a newspaper at the market Sunday morning and discovered they would be vacated from Currie Barracks.

“The board gives out information on a need-to-know basis,” Sirois says. “It’s ‘Trust us and we’ll make things wonderful.’”

Bradshaw says he is unaware of any vendor who is displeased with market communication. “It hasn’t come to my attention,” he says.

The market is changing locations because last summer, the owners of the Currie Barracks land announced they have redevelopment plans that exclude the market, which has until November 2010 to vacate.

And now, vendors say they are again in the dark — this time about their new location.

Although a lease for a new home has been signed, Bradshaw won’t confirm its exact location. He will only say the market is waiting for city approval for a building in southeast Calgary, near Blackfoot Trail, north of Heritage Drive. “We’re hoping in the next few months we’ll be able to announce where our new location is,” Bradshaw says. “There are just a few hurdles to clear still before we can get there.”

Along with voting to fire the general manager, on May 30 the Calgary Farmers’ Market board also rejected a proposal to become a for-profit corporation and possibly lose its farmers’ market status. The corporate idea was initiated when the landlord of the Blackfoot location refused to rent the space to a non-profit co-operative.

“(The board) took a look at the proposals we had and decided that a co-operative with one member, one vote suited us better as an organization,” Bradshaw says.

The corporation condition “went away” after the market “cleared hurdles” during lease negotiations, says Bradshaw. “As a non-profit co-operative, it allows us to do certain things and qualify as an approved farmers’ market,” he adds.

When asked if the board fired general manager Darrell Komick because he was pushing for the market to gain corporate status, Bradshaw replied, “It was an internal decision and we’ll just have to leave it as that.”

Most vendors were not told why Komick was dismissed; only the member vendors were, Bradshaw says. “It’s no different from me not informing you,” he adds.

As one of Calgary’s biggest consumers of locally produced food, Sirois has been encouraged by some vendors saying they are considering other options for selling their goods. Sirois wants to see a simple farmers’ market.

“Isn’t it about a table and a farmer and me giving them money for the stuff that they grow?” he says. “It’s getting farther away from that. As someone who wants to support local food I don’t like where it’s going and how the farmers are being treated.”

Hamilton says farmers’ markets should be about developing one-on-one relationships with customers. “This has to do with serving people the best food at the fairest price possible.”

Bradshaw maintains that the Calgary Farmers’ Market is committed to supporting local farmers selling their food and is hoping for “a seamless transition from the day we close at Currie to the day we open in our new location.”