Street Stall Saturdays reviving farmers’ market at River Landing

The people, the vendors and the fresh produce are back at Market Square at River landing.

Called Street Stall Saturdays, the group running the market along Sonnenschein Way on the south side of the farmer’s market building for the last seven years has expanded to the entire area outside the building.

Street Stall Saturdays teamed up with the Community Farmers Market of Saskatoon to keep the site active one day a week at Market Square, every Saturday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Manager Ryan Richichi is happy to see the area bustling with people once again.

“We’ve been quite busy today,” he said, looking at the crowds of people moving through the expanded area. “We’ve seen a lot of people kind of itching to get back to the outdoors, and be able to buy local produce and locally made goods.”

Roughly 35 vendors — ranging from produce to jewellery — will use the outdoor space, as the City of Saskatoon keeps the building empty for ongoing roof repairs.

While the city continues to work to find a permanent tenant, it granted Street Stall Saturdays’ request to expand to the entire area east of the building that was previously occupied by the Saskatoon Farmers’ Market Cooperative for 12 years.

“I think that was really good for our organization as well as just the local community here to still be able to access those items on Market Square,” Richichi said of the opportunity to expand east.

After months of bitter arguments, centred around animating the site for six days a week, Saskatoon Farmers’ Market Cooperative relocated to private space on Koyl Avenue in January after an agreement to extend the lease could not be reached.

Richichi said the city still wanted fresh produce to be part of any weekend market, so Street Stall Saturdays partnered with the Community Farmers Market to expand its vendor list.

The Community Farmers Market has been around for roughly 15 years and is most notably seen operating on 8th Street in the parking lot in front of London Drugs.

The plan was to have plenty of food trucks available at the site as well, but the city has not yet approved food trucks for the space.

“Hopefully further into the season we can add them to the mix,” Richichi said.

As long as the weather allows, Street Stall Saturdays will operate every Saturday from June 20 to October 10.