Editorial: Saying goodbye to a summer friend

This past Friday may have marked the end of summer with the fall equinox, but summer in Morinville will officially come to an end this Friday with the final instalment of the Farmer’s Market.

In looking back over the past season we have little reason to thank summer for its efforts this year. Sure, it marked the same period of time on the calendar as it always does, but it didn’t do much for us in the way of sunny days, that true test of a summer’s value. With too much rain and not enough rays, summer flipped us the figurative seasonal bird this year, thumbing its nose at amateur gardeners throughout the community.

But while summer may have let us down this year, the farmer’s market did not. Manager Korien Sampson, volunteer Travis Loseth, and the Friends of the Morinville Public Library, the latter of whom who host the market, worked hard this season to bring residents and visitors a farmer’s market that was enjoyed by merchant and customer alike.

The task was not an easy one. Faced with being uprooted from 100 Avenue due to renovations to Civic Plaza, introducing new vendor rules to meet provincial requirements, and combatting a series of Fridays on which the sun seemed to seldom shine, the organizers of the market seemed to have the odds stacked against them.

And yet they succeeded, providing us all with a market that was more than a few tables set up in front of the library. Instead we got several rows of tented vendors gathered together in the parking lot of the Parish Hall, all offering their wares and knowledge of the same. Instead we got a market that mixed in a little entertainment over the noon hour now and again. And topping it off was the first chilli cook off, an event still being talked about a couple weeks later.

Morinville is fortunate to have people like Mrs. Sampson to step up to the plate and run our market when it was looking like there would not even have been one this year. We are fortunate to have young men and women like Mr. Loseth who have the volunteer spirit within them. And we are fortunate to have residents who come out to support the market, buying products in the wind and the rain and – occasionally – in the sun.

So we tip our collective hats to the organizers of this year’s Farmer’s Market, thank them for a great season, and express our regret it all comes to an end this Friday. Be sure to stop by Sept. 30 for one last chance to look at what’s available. When you do, take a second and thank the vendors and organizers for making the market a much greater success than the summer it took place in.

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