MONDAY…
--- Hectic day from beginning to… well near end. I wake at 6:20 (the time I usually leave the house on day shift). The alarm failed me but I rush through the shower and all and get to work just on time. Work is then crazy busy but not in a bad way. A movie with Melissa makes the evening a bit more leisurely.
TUESDAY…
--- More movies… now with Karl. We head to the Mayfair to see Goodnight and Good Luck. Really good movie… and a great night for walking outside. Walking from Karl’s to the cinema is about fifteen minutes, so it’s all good.
WEDNESDAY…
--- Pretty regular day all around with temps in the low twenties… groceries bought after work… and some baseball on TV at night.
THURSDAY…
--- Not a bad day. CNI teams will be changing pretty soon with six people leaving for QC/AFIS training.
--- Some TV and laundry for the evening.
FRIDAY…
--- Fly out of Ottawa in the morning and exit Halifax airport for the first time… ever (I’m always staying in security for connecting flights). Lee and Dad meet me and then it’s the rest of the day at Ruby and Lee’s with fish, TV and cards. Bedtime feels like 9:30 for me but I still sleep pretty easily.
SATURDAY…
--- The Halifax farmer’s market in the morning. The getting up isn’t great but it’s still good and downtown Halifax is a nice spot.
--- See Anne-Marie (used to work with her when I first came to Ottawa). She was just walking along the street when we saw her and stopped to chat.
--- Fish and chips for lunch and a visit with cousin Chad… BBQ supper with a bunch there, including cousin Jeremy (who I didn’t see for around seven years). Some hockey on TV ends a busy day.
SUNDAY…
--- Easter, remembering when Jesus made water into wine and eggs into chocolate.
--- Quiet Easter morning with everyone else gone to church.
--- In the house all day today working on work stuff with Lee and eating! Jeremy is back for another meal and it’s a small group tonight (only eight!). Good and filling… turkey makes bed come early.
Finding a City in a Market
There’s Granville Island in Vancouver. The Byward Market in Ottawa. The Halifax Farmer’s Market in Halifax. And in St. John’s? A few trucks in the parking pot of Churchill Square.
I’ve been to Athens where I’ve seen fresh fish, vegetables and meat. Even full skinned sheep with little skinned sheep heads and wide sheep eyes. Meats, seafood, vegetables have all been on display with voices I couldn’t understand calling out to one another.
I’ve been to another market area in Athens where clothes and other goods are also available. If you round a corner, you may be met by a wall of fabrics, ancient ruins, a patio of drinking loungers, or even a view of the Parthenon.
In London, a multitude of small shops and stands are surrounded by places to sit and have a drink while you rest. Performers vi for your attention and the area bustles.
Granville Island mixes fresh fruit and vegetables with baked goods, restaurants, marine equipment shops and even a theatre. It’s all in one small area where you can stroll about for hours, take a break for a snack, and watch boats of all sorts going this way and that within the surroundings of a city of millions. It can be busy and a little expensive but there’s a life to a place like Granville Island. Kids run after sea gulls who, in turn, are swooping in after discarded bits of food. Even the occasional seal or sea otter can be seen popping its head out from the nearby ocean, seeing what’s going on.
For one summer, six days a week, I’d walk through Granville Island twice a day going to work. It was always interesting and always enjoyable.
The Byward Market makes up the Ottawa equivalent of Granville Island. Several blocks of downtown streets are taken up with bars, restaurants and a variety of shops. In the summer and fall, outdoor stands draw hoards of people looking for maple syrup, fresh vegetables, fruits and other goods.
Last fall, mom and dad went to the market with me as we prepared for a Thanksgiving supper. The crisp air held the aroma of local apples. Pumpkins of all sizes brightened every view and the energy of people bring excitement to a family holiday at a time when family comes from miles away to gather and share time with each other.
This Easter brought family together once again, this time in Halifax. It was my first time in this Atlantic city for about twenty years and any memories I held of it’s downtown core were few and dream like.
But six of us got up early to go to the Halifax Farmer’s Market on Saturday. The old converted brewery holds every type of food you could be looking for. Every nook and cranny is used, if not for a fish stand, maybe an art display. If not for bread, maybe as a little perch for a guitar player whose voice echoes through the old style brick halls.
It’s a maze of Halifax culture that draws thousands of people every Saturday. And the crowds can be overwhelming but there’s no hostility… people are there with smiles as they are washed with music, various colours, laughter, and pleasant fragrances that change as you round every corner.
And outside of the market, you’re within a stone’s throw of the waterfront. A boardwalk awaits, inviting you to stroll by condominiums, restaurants, tugboats and schooners.
These markets I’ve visited, in my current home town of Ottawa, along the western shores of Vancouver, the eastern shores of Halifax, and overseas in Athens and London have all given me so much. They are among the best places to go when visiting a city. Culture, sights, sounds and smells overtake you.
And then there’s St. John’s. I once worked with an organization that proposed a farmer’s market for my hometown. I was there at the meeting with city developers as my boss proposed the concept. And the response was “what happens to the trucks down at Churchill Square?”
And just like that, the city turned its back on a gathering place for people looking for fresh produce and crafts. St. John’s already had its market in the form of a couple of pick up trucks at one corner of a city parking lot. The short sightedness was enough to make me shake my head.
More recently, the old hockey stadium was vacated in favour of a newer building further into the downtown core. The old stadium sits along green space with a river and a nearby lake used by many of the residents of St. John’s who go out for a walk, a sit, or a round of duck watching. Pathways that connect up with many sections of the city all converge on this area. And the old brick stadium sits vacant.
While in Halifax this weekend, I couldn’t stop from thinking how that stadium could be converted into a farmer’s market in much the same way as the old brewery was. But sadly, it’s not to be. Loblaws, a major grocery chain, has purchased the building and, despite years of protests from citizens who want something better, a new grocery store is being built in the middle of a green space. And, showing how unnecessary this store is, only about a mile up the road, another store owned by Loblaws waits for the grand opening of the new so that it can be shut down and left vacant.
So where other cities around my country and throughout the world bring locals together with tourists… brings experiences for all your senses to be abuzz with… my hometown brings a giant store much like one that used to sit a mile away where you can buy canned goods… push metal shopping carts… and stand at a cash, in front of a slightly confused teenager as they spin a can around in their hands looking for a barcode to scan… and overhead, the music… “Cleanup in isle four!”
Where would you rather be?
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2 comments:
In my humblest of opinions, the Stadium site in St. John's would also have been a fine place to have built The Rooms. It would have solved two areas of debate (concerning where to build their projects) that both the provincial and municpal had to tackle. Given the sites true purpose (rememberance of the war dead) and its location, I feel this would have fit in wonderfully.
With regard to the Loblaws project, I find it quite amusing/distrubing that this city council spent 3-4 years debating a grocery store. Are we that progressed in our main social issues that we can now focus on a grocery store? They should be ashamed.
I think (but am not positive) that for Granville Island, Ottawa and Halifax, in addition to municipal, provincial and federal support it took the will power, courage and financial support of private businesses to get these markets off the ground. It also took many years (and some retooling) to get them to the point where they are now. I agree that the old stadium in St. John's would be a great location for a market concept with its central locations, walking trails, Quidi Vidi proximity and access to parking. I am wondering if there was a coalition of private business ventures who put forth a competing proposal to Loblaws it might have turned out different. Without the support of the small and medium sized businesses, a market is doomed to failure or will flounder for quite some time.
In Toronto, there are a number of quite interesting and diverse markets throughout the city (St. lawrence market, Kensington market, the Distillery, Chinatown, Little India, Korea town, etc.). Some have grown organically over decades due to ethnic pockets and the like. The Distillery District is pretty much a private venture backed initiative which took at least 5-6 years of planning and another 2-3 years of hard work and promotion to get off the ground. It is now quite an interesting cultural and shopping destination for Torontonians and tourists alike. I guess my point is that you need the private venture support these days to oppose large corporate projects like a Loblaws. Having said that, they are turning Maple Leaf Gardens into a Real Canadian Superstore which is a Loblaws project. Oh well.
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