La Broquerie Farm & Community Market to be bigger and better this year

The town of La Broquerie is getting ready to kick off their market season later this month.  

Organizer Sarah Wieler says they started up La Broquerie Farm & Community Market last year and it was a huge success.  

“Cheryl Beyak and Maryann Lepp were the change-makers who brought the markets to fruition last year, and they were a great success. Very well attended, we had over 300 people at one of them.”  

This year, they are expanding the dates, and are hoping to make it bigger and better.  

“We really wanted to build on that momentum. We heard from vendors and patrons alike that Saturdays would have been better than Sunday mornings, so we wanted to accommodate that, so we made the change to Saturday.” 

Another big change is that they will be hosting 15 markets instead of four.  

The first market is scheduled for June 22, and they will be every Saturday from 9am-1pm with the last market taking place on September 28.  

Once again, they will be hosted by the La Broquerie Hotel.  

“Nancy there has been fantastic to work with in organizing that and allowing us to use that space.”   

Wieler notes that this year they are working with The Saint Jean Baptiste Society.   

“So we're coordinating our market season opener on the fête weekend. We'll be at a special location at the HyLife Centre, so we'll have the ball diamonds and the softball tournament happening around.”  

They have two dozen vendors already signed up for the opening weekend.  

“Local makers and bakers and creators and growers, all coming out to showcase their wares. It's going to be an amazing day, they've got entertainment there that we are going to enjoy for the fête weekend.”  

She says the team’s mission is for the markets to be more than a pop-up shopping mall.  

“We really want it to be a community hub, we really want to embrace the multiculturalism of La Broquerie, the entertainment, just the local talent that is there, young entrepreneurs,” says Wieler. “So we've kept our market fees really accessible so that people can just come and try out one market and see how it goes, get connected in the community. It's not just about stopping and shopping, it's about spending time getting to know your neighbors and getting plugged in and making those connections too.”  

With files from Judy Peters