MEDIA RELEASE Town of Greater Napanee Launches 2021 Season of the Hometown Market

Spring is almost here and the Town of Greater Napanee is pleased to announce another season of the Greater Napanee Hometown Market along with its first virtual Hometown Market for the community in 2021.

What Was Heard from the Community – “Greater Napanee Hometown Market – Planning for a Successful 2021 Season” Public Survey:
In January 2021, the Town engaged with the Greater Napanee community through a public survey regarding feedback for Market operations. The survey, “Greater Napanee Hometown Market – Planning for a Successful 2021 Season” received 122 responses from the community and 17 responses from Market vendors.

The Town acknowledges that the most desirable location for a Farmers’ Market for shoppers, based on the results of the survey, is the Market Square; for the Market vendors, the most popular location is the SPC. Understanding that the presence of a local Farmers’ Market has significant value to a community, Town staff have executed a plan to accommodate the preferred shopper and vendor locations, while continually supporting the development of an accessible and safe Market. To support COVID-19 health and safety protocols, which will be required again this summer, the traditional 2021 Hometown Market will remain at the Strathcona Paper Centre (16 McPherson Dr., Napanee). In addition to the traditional in-person Market, the Town is launching a new virtual Hometown Market platform which will have a centralized downtown weekly pick-up location.

The health and safety of the community is the Town’s number one priority and staff have consulted with KFL&A Public Health on COVID-19 protocols. Due to directions from Public Health, the Town has implemented logistics providing the safest Market operations for the public, vendors, volunteers, and staff.

Information about the 2021 In-Person Hometown Market held at the Strathcona Paper Centre:
Date & Frequency: The 2021 Hometown Market season will begin on June 12, 2021 and will operate weekly, every Saturday, until August 28, 2021, hosting 12 Market days in total. The season may be extended pending vendor interest and volunteer support.
Time: The Market will be open to the public between 9:00 am – 2:00 pm.
Location: The Market will be located outside on the south lawn of the SPC. To accommodate physical distancing, a set layout with strict limitations will be implemented. The large outdoor area at the SPC will provide ample space to ensure a safe selling/purchasing experience. With the use of barriers, clear signage, spaced traffic markers and a large parking lot, physical distancing can be practiced without issue. To further ensure that physical distancing and all safety procedures are met, the Market season will have a maximum capacity of 12 local food and produce vendors.

Keeping in mind the accessibility needs of some community shoppers, the Greater Napanee Hometown Market will be going virtual this spring to accommodate the downtown Market shoppers. Lyndsay Tee, Manager of Community Economic Development for the Town of Greater Napanee, explains, “having both a traditional Saturday Market and an online Market will create more opportunity for local producers to sell and shoppers to access local goods. Shoppers are entering a safe environment outdoors at the SPC, where they can meet and engage
directly with the people who are making the product. Knowing that accessibility was of top concern to the public moving into the 2021 season, introducing a virtual platform with a downtown pick-up location will support in our effort to ensure safety while improving accessibility.”

New This Year – Virtual Greater Napanee Hometown Market Using FreshFind.ca Coming this Summer:
The virtual Market can be accessed by visiting FreshFind.ca. The team at FreshFind.ca are excited to be working with the Town to launch the first ever virtual Greater Napanee Hometown Market. The platform will help residents connect with their local producers and directly access and purchase fresh goods from the comfort of home. By serving the region and bolstering the local economy through the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond, the online platform will be open to all local food and produce vendors who are willing to participate.
Date & Frequency: The virtual Market will be open to online shoppers every day of the week at any time that is convenient for shoppers to browse and order from vendors who are offering an online shopping option. Online payments are required.
Weekly Product Pickup Time & Location: The weekly product pick-up time will be Wednesdays from 9:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. at the Municipal building located in Conservation Park, downtown Napanee.

The Town is committed to supporting the collective wellbeing of the community by continuing to connect local producers to their consumers. The Town would like to thank the public for understanding the decisions that had to be made for the 2021 Market season and encourages the community to shop locally at the Hometown Market and to check out the new virtual Market platform coming this summer.
For a list of all COVID-19 safety protocols and procedures in place at this year’s Market, or to find out how to become an online vendor via the virtual Market, please see the ‘Hometown Market’ page at www.greaternapanee.com.

Media Contact:
Brianna Clement
Community Engagement Clerk
Town of Greater Napanee
12 Market Square, P.O. Box 97, Napanee, On
K7R 3L4
T: 613-354-3351 ext. 2030
E: bclement@greaternapanee.com
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