Sunday July 10, 2022 | SOOKE, BC
by Mary P Brooke, B.Sc. | Island Social Trends
Pleasant weather and an opportunity to buy fresh local produce were certainly two draws for the steady flow of people attending the Sooke Country Market yesterday.
Running on Saturdays from late April to early October — 10 am to 2 pm each weekend — the outdoor Sooke Country Market venue is a chance to do that quick shopping and to catch up with locals and vendors. It’s also pretty much COVID-safe, being held outdoors.
Both locals and tourists showed up at the market on July 9.
Produce and collectibles:
At least one produce vendor was promoting that they accept the BC Farmers Market Nutrition Coupons, a program of food cost supplementation offered through the Ministry of Agriculture and Food. This year the coupons are worth $6 more, to help with the rising cost of living.
Produce for sale across a few different vendor displays included green beans, garlic greens, head lettuce, mint, radicchio, and Swiss chard. There were bedding plants and flowers for sale, as well as bottled maple syrup and treats.
Several booths offered arts and crafts, both decorative and practical. One vendor was selling hand-made wooden bowls made from a range of local tree varieties including oak and arbutus (obtained from development sites).
Sooke Country Market is one of 28 farmers’ markets on Vancouver Island as promoted by the BC Farmers Markets.
District of Sooke booth:
The District of Sooke also had a booth, giving away free municipal promo items like blue plastic frisbees and white reusable produce bags, while learning about the municipality’s range of initiatives. For offering your pledge to cycle more, there was a ‘win a free e-bike’ prize draw by Fuca Cycles.
District of Sooke Communications Coordinator Christina Moog was on hand to answer any questions that residents had, including about the current Sooke Citizen Budget Survey 2023 that is open online to July 17, 2022.
Market location:
The market for many years was located in a gravel parking lot next to a Petrocan gas station on Otter Point Road across from a small number of retail stores, then relocated a few years ago to John Phillips Memorial Park.
Due to construction of a new set of residential and commercial buildings in a portion of the John Phillips Memorial Park footprint at 2197 Otter Point Road (as well as improvements for the park itself such as parking, EV charging, electrical connections for community events and 20 new trees right next to municipal hall), since May 28 this year the market is taking place on a patch of grass farther along on Otter Point Road — just past the municipal hall and fire hall — at the corner of the residential Rhodonite Drive. Parking seems not a problem.
Nice sunny day for the market:
A snapshot of the July 9, 2022 Sooke Country Market (by Mary P Brooke / Island Social Trends):
