By James MacLennan
The Tri-City News
With fresh produce, live music and beautiful weather, Coquitlam Farmers Market was full of shoppers Sunday looking for locally grown and prepared goods.
After crossing figs, peaches, plums and pears off her shopping list, Joyavé Lightheart says she likes everything about her visits to the market.
"The produce is amazing" says Lightheart, who said she has been shopping at the Poirier street market for five years. "I also like meeting the vendors and getting to know them by name."
"Make, Bake or Grow" is the market's slogan but it's also a requirement for vendors, according to market president Tabitha McLaughlin. Merchants must be directly involved with the production of their goods to help promote stronger local connections with shoppers.
"Shopping in a farmers market is much more about than just coming and picking up food, it's about an experience. It's about knowing your food and knowing where it came from," McLaughlin said.
As music from Otto Faustin's steel drums rang throughout the dozens of tents, hundreds of shoppers were busy buying everything from organic fruits and vegetables to organic makeup.
A Bread Affair's Kelsey Henderson had trouble keeping up with demand for her sourdough. With more than an hour to go before closing, she had only four loaves left of the 160 that she brought for sale.
Coquitlam Farmers Market runs every Sunday through the end of October from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the parking lot of Dogwood Pavilion.
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