Kitchener to pilot mid-week farmers' market again, starting in June

Those who enjoy getting fresh fruit and vegetables as well as other groceries and items from the Kitchener Market on Saturday mornings will have a new mid-week option this summer.

The Kitchener Market will be running a market on four consecutive Wednesdays, starting June 26. The market will run from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.

The market will include at least 12 of the vendors at the Saturday market along with food hall vendors.

Kim Feere, manager of the Kitchener Market, says they did a survey and there was "overwhelming response" to host the mid-week market.

She said the survey also showed people wanted food hall vendors to be open later than 3 p.m. so they could get dinner.

It's an idea the market has been mulling since at least 2016, as traffic to the Saturday market has increased steadily since 2008.

Kitchener also piloted a weekdaymarket in front of city hall in June 2016but that one was not repeated in the following years.

Licensed venue hopes to attract after-work crowd

"The atmosphere that we're trying to create is a family friendly kind of neighbourhood party. We will definitely be focused on the after-work crowd as well because it will be a licensed venue with live, local music," Feere said.

She says there will also be face painting, activities for kids, chef demos, workshops, beer and cider tastings and special events.

The market will be in the upper level of the market building and on the piazza outside.

They'll monitor the foot traffic over the four weeks and then analyze that data.

"We expect it to be successful because we've heard so much positivity around hosting this event and probably the next year, we'd be looking at increasing and growing this midweek market," Feere said.