The Best Farmers' Markets in Toronto
The weather is warming up and summer's marquee fruits and vegetables are well on their way to your kitchen. And the best place to get your share of this upcoming local bounty is at one of Toronto's many farmers' markets, most of which are now open for the season.
Market shopping is a great way to eat local, high quality, super fresh food. Talk to the people who grow and care for our food, and learn about different varieties, including heirloom and other flavourful varieties you won't find at No Frills. Plus, it reduces your carbon footprint, as nothing is shipped across the continent.
Farmers' markets are not just for your fruits and vegetables, although those items alone are enough reason to pay a visit. Expect to find meats and fish, herbs, honey, mushrooms, garlic, eggs, cheese, bread and other baked treats, preserves, jams and even plants and flowers.
Although Toronto has many farmers markets, they are all open on different days and times. This is good for farmers, as they can sell at multiple Toronto markets in a week. But it also means that your neighbourhood market may be open while you are at work. Thus, it is important to balance both convenience and opening times, along with a size and scope that suits your needs.
For some people this means stopping by Nathan Phillips Square Wednesdays before work or at lunch and then carrying the goodies home. It might mean a trip to Dufferin Grove Park after work or to Liberty Village after brunch. The Toronto Farmers' Market Network has a comprehensive list (and map) of markets, TasteTO sorts by season and day and NOW sorts by day.
Our list covers 15 of Toronto's markets, presented in no particular order - but there are more, and unfortunately that means good markets are left out, such as Distillery District, North York and Etobicoke Civic Centres, and the Downsview Merchant Market. But with the following list, you will find a market in the downtown core and many neighbourhoods radiating pretty far out.
As an avid market-goer myself, I have learned a few helpful strategies.
- Do a little tour of the market before you buy. Not all vendors have the same things, plus you can compare quality and prices.
- Bring some sturdy bags to carry your bounty. The market bounty can get heavy, and while most farmers have basic plastic bags, bringing your own helps the environment and makes it easier to carry everything.
- If you go early, you'll get the best selection but if you go late you might be able to negotiate the best prices.
- Some markets or farmers have websites or email lists, which are good ways to get information about what you will find at the market, recipes and other helpful information.
Check out our list for the days, season and hours of the markets, and links to more info.
Top photos from (two left) Withrow Park Farmers' Market and (right) jsaneb. Farmers' Market list photos from each market except: Brickworks by Scorchez, Nathan Phillips Square by Jen Chan, Metro Hall by Sandy Kemsley and St Lawrence Market by Faisal D.
Dufferin Grove Organic
THURSDAY 3pm - 7pm. South of Bloor on the east side of Dufferin, in Dufferin Grove Park. Year Round. More...
St. Lawrence
SATURDAY 5am - 5pm. 92 Front Street East (at Jarvis, North Building). Year Round. More...
Nathan Phillips Square
WEDNESDAY 8am - 2.30pm. Nathan Phillips Square (Toronto City Hall), Queen & Bay Streets. June to October. More...
Trinity Bellwoods
TUESDAY 3pm - 7pm. Northwest corner of Trinity Bellwods Park, 1053 Dundas St W (Dundas & Shaw). June to October. More...
Brick Works
SATURDAY 8am - 1pm. Between the Prince Edward Viaduct (Bloor/Danforth) and Pottery Road. May to December. More...
Riverdale Organic
TUESDAY 3pm - 7pm. Riverdale Park West (201 Winchester St). May to October. More...
Stonegate
TUESDAY 4pm - 7pm. 194 Park Lawn Road, next to St. James' Humber Bay Anglican Church. June to October. More...
The Village Market (organic)
SATURDAY 8.30am - 1.30pm. 9100 Bathurst at the Toronto Waldorf School. Year Round. More...
Weston
SATURDAY 7am - Noon. John St GO train parking lot (Weston Rd & Lawrence Ave W). May to October. More...
Sherway Gardens
FRIDAY 8am - 2pm. Sherway Gardens Mall, Corner of Hwy 427 and The Queensway. May to October. More...
Comments (34)
Brickworks beaten out by Withrow Park and Nathan Phillips? Not in my book. Nathan Phillips is overpriced and underwhelming and Withrow Park can't match Brickworks' variety. Makes me doubt the remainder of the ratings.
Can anyone suggest the best way to bike to the Brickworks? You know, the way least likely to get me killed?
"Can anyone suggest the best way to bike to the Brickworks? You know, the way least likely to get me killed?"
Heck, isn't it right off a BIKE PATH? The roads around there are not bad either. Bayview, of course, has fast and aggressive traffic, but it also happens to have a wide paved shoulder. And Pottery Rd. is pretty tame, and has tons of cyclists.
Directions to the Brick Works, right from their site (includes cycling directions): http://evergreen.ca/rethinkspace/?p=124 .
I'm going to reserve judgement on the Brickworks until later in the season, so far it's not exactly much of a farmers market, a large number of the stands are more prepared foods and crafts.
That's the difficulty this time of year. Most things aren't ready yet, and with the weird weather, it's been extra difficult. Usually you can find some greens and other early items, but before too long the markets will be stocked full.
The TTC will be having a bus route to the Brickworks as of June 7 (next saturday), the 28A from Davisille station. There's also a free shuttle bus that you can catch from Broadview Station.
If you really want to make sure you get the best quality, you really have to talk to the vendors and know what -should- be in season. In many 'Farmers Markets', the produce isn't from a local farm, but instead from California and Florida. I can't give any numbers for Toronto markets, but I know the one at City Hall in Kingston is about 60% of these folks. To make matters worse, not only is their produce from the other side of the continent, but it all comes from the same supplier.
So yeah, if you see something out of season sitting there nice and ripe, avoid it. Chances are not a shred of it is locally grown
http://www.my-market.ca/
If you go to that website, I believe it says that any farmer's market in Toronto that is certified by "My Market" only has farmers that sell their own produce and only from with in the Greenbelt.
The Liberty Village Farmer's Market would be an example of this.
I went to the High Park market this weekend and wasn't overly impressed. The selection is smallish and included local and imported fruit (mango's and pineapple anyone?) and veggies. The organic produce looked OK but was expensive - so I guess it's worth going if you're looking for organic produce and willing to pay top dollar for it.
That's too bad re High Park. It's run (or at least was run) by Digs Dorfman, owner of The Sweet Potato, and at his store he maintains excellent pricing for organic products. Maybe he's taking the best sources from the market to stock his store - if his claims are true, his fresh foods, and their prices, will be unbelievable this summer.
High Park deserves to have one of the city's best farmers markets.
Again Scarborough is left off the list - big surprise. I like BlogTO (if fact they used my photo for the Brickworks entry above) but God, you'd think all Scarborough has to offer is Johnnys Hamburgers from reading this site. Anyway, the BirchCliff Village Farmers' Market - while not the best in the City - is a very good farmers market that deserves some attention. So there, #16 is BirchCliff Village http://www.marketsbythebluffs.com/about.html
For those in the East End, a brand new Farmers' Market will be starting this Thursday evenings in East Lynn Park.
I was at the farmer's market across from the Dufferin Mall on the weekend. $6 for a rather small loaf of Spelt bread is not cool. Tasty, but not cool. Until prices overall come down as the growing season progresses, rating is pointless.
Bread prices are a result of a lot of things, very little of which the local baker can do much about. Or, probably, local farmers. Lots of bakeries are raising prices and/or shrinking loaf sizes as a result of higher grain costs, and also the higher costs of transporting said grain.
On that note, produce prices may be up this year as well, with the higher costs for the regional farmers to drive their trucks into town. $40 for half a tank in a VW Golf is nothing in comparison.
Something to keep in mind: This time of year the markets are just opening and not all of the vendors are out yet. So, any market that looks small now might not be in a month.
R.S., that My Markets thing doesn't seem like it's an open certification process that markets can apply for, but rather that they open their own markets with the guarantee that they're entirely local. None of those locations are at all local to me, so it doesn't help me at all that they're doing that... whereas it would be nice if Weston or High Park had the option of applying to be certified like that if they were able to.It's perfectly easy to go to any market and ask where produce is from as well as figure out who just found some produce and threw it into a truck and who is actually there from a farm. The former may not be overly forthcoming with that info, but the farmers are always pretty obvious about who they are and what if anything makes them special.
Regarding the High Park market, I've been weekly all year and I really don't understand the comment about high prices for organic produce. .99 cents for a bunch of organic broccoli, $1.49 for the most beautiful and massive heads of locally grown organic lettuces just to mention a few. I think these are by far the best prices I've seen at organic markets/stores across the city.
Information like this is good to know for not only locals but also tourists that want to mingle with some of the locals in the area
dufferin grove is *not* a proper farmers market - the majority of what is sold there is trucked (or flown) in from far, far away - if the bananas don't give it away, the plastic tags and other packaging do.
Dufferin Grove should not be rated number one! My sister and I were curious and went to the Dufferin Grive market last Thursday. I would argue that it was the WORST market in the city. There's nothing wrong with organic of course, but I think it is absolutely ridiculous to charge $8 or more for a loaf of bread. The strawberries I bought were also incredibly expensive, almost double the price of the St. Lawrence Market. It's funny because not everything was local either!
Living just down the street from the St. Lawrence Market, I go to the St. Lawrence Farmer's market almost every Saturday. It is by far my favourite in terms of variety and freshness and price of products. I have also been to the Riverdale Farm farmer's market and Liberty Village which are small in comparison, but alright.
I would like to go to the Brickworks market next!
Love this article, blog TO! But I think you should review and include more markets outside of the radar like the North York market. I think targeting people living in the suburbs with this information is also important.
I like the farmers market put on by THE STOP at the new ArtScape TTC Art Barns on Wychwood Avenue South at St. Clair West. This little market has grown to 40 or so vendors. It was on the lawn of the church on St. Clair Ave at the corner of Wychwood Ave South. It move to the Art Barns and grew. www.thestop.org/bake-ovens-markets
The organic meat available there is fantastic! And there is not a lot of crafts there at all. But, if crafts are your thing, there's going to be a market taking over where THE STOP's farmers market used to be on the lan of the church. It's going to focus on artisan baked goods, crafts, and sustainable products and services. We here in the community are excited! www.wychcraftmarket.com
http://eat-local.ca/ has a map based interface to a list of markets, farms, retailers, and restaurants specializing in local food.
Why isn't the Etobicoke farmers market mentioned that takes place on Saturday mornings at the Etobicoke Civic Centre?
I heard about a place in Toronto (I live in Mississauga) that was a former train station or something like that where they now have a greenhouse growing all kinds of veggies and I think a farmer's market too. Does anyone know what that place is called and where it is? I think I ran across it online one time - now I can't find it.
cam-man
It's the Wychwood Barns farmer's market. It's TTC train barn converted into an amazing space. Near Christie & St. Clair, it's a Saturday morning market, year-round.
http://www.greenbeltfresh.ca/region/toronto/farmers-markets/green-barn-farmers-market
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