the old Downtown Bus Depot « Downtown Windsor, Ontario

Posts Tagged ‘the old Downtown Bus Depot’

Downtown Windsor Farmers’ Market Returns This Saturday

Friday, June 11th, 2010

It’s not a big deal.

It’s a huge deal.

The triumphant return of the Downtown Windsor Farmers’ Market is this Saturday!

Their first year of operations, there were 15 vendors on opening day (which was superb). This Saturday’s opening day of their second year will see 30 vendors offering their fruits, vegetables, stone-milled flour, cookies, bread, honey, coffee, fish, and beef!

Last year, there were no fish or any kind of meats available. This year, that changes. And my prediction is that the reception of this market explodes when residents understand what they have access to in the core of their downtown. The Downtown Market is located at the old Greyhound/City Bus Depot between Chatham Street and University Avenue East.

Not only should residents JUMP at this opportunity, but the bars and restaurants should thank their lucky stars that this food is being offered so close to their front doors for so little money! If you’re reading this, and you live downtown, and you assume that your downtown resident-friends know about it…you’re likely wrong. Tell them. If they know about it, tell them anyway. They’ll be thanking you for it. If not for the food, then maybe for the live music, sense of community, and connection to many things being made in Windsor.

Some facts about the Market from their website:

WHEN – The 2010 season for the market starts on June 12 and runs every Saturday from 8am to 1pm through to October 30.

WHERE – The market is located in the parking lot of the old Greyhound bus station, at 44 University Avenue East, Windsor, Ontario.

MISSION STATEMENT – The Downtown Windsor Farmers’ Market is a not-for-profit, volunteer-run organization that connects residents of Windsor and surrounding areas to the farmers of Essex County by providing residents with local, fresh and in-season food in an accessible setting. We aim to raise the profile of local food producers and entrepreneurs by giving them a venue in which to sell their goods, while educating the public about the rich agricultural diversity that exists in Essex County. Through partnerships we work to build a stronger sense of community, restore the positive image of downtown and bring vitality back to our city.

I interviewed Tristan Fahrenbach (vendor recruitment) on June 5th after I shouted at him on the street. I knew it was him, because he’s a tall dude, and he answered to me shouting, “Tristan!” SUPER-nice guy you need to introduce yourself to if you see him at the Downtown Market.

For many more details about this year’s Downtown Windsor Farmers’ Market, watch the video interview below. And thanks again to Tristan for taking the time on his lunch break to talk to me.

My hopes are that we will have a weekly feature here (for the 21 weeks of the Market’s 2010 existence) highlighting new vendors each week! So stay tuned to find out who is behind the incredible influx of local goods in the downtown area.

For more insight into the Farmer’s Market last year, check out this post I did on my personal blog with a bit of video from our visits.

Tags: coffee, essex county, family, fish, food, interview, map, music, The Downtown Windsor Farmers' Market, the old Downtown Bus Depot, tristan fahrenbach, vegetables
Posted in downtown entrepreneurs, downtown food, residents, video, windsor news | 2 Comments »

Sites of Apology / Sites of Hope

Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010

Broken City Lab, to the uninitiated, is a multidisciplinary group of concerned citizens in Windsor. They get together weekly (at least) to discuss the goods and the bads of our fine city. Then they think of ways to emphasize these parts of Windsor through artistic expression, interaction, collaboration, and more.

Recently, Broken City Lab launched an initiative called Save The City. It’s a five-month series of interactions between Broken City Lab, Windsor citizens, and the city itself. The meet-ups and activities are designed to get more than just the conversation going about the kind of city we actually live in, and the kind of city we hope to live in.

Last month was the first such event which was focused on storytelling. It was titled “Listen To The City“. According to Broken City Lab, it was “a community workshop to brainstorm, uncover, and share personal histories of Windsor, inviting a range of community members to participate in the process. The workshop will begin with a discussion about the importance in personal histories alongside official histories of a city, and then lead to the opportunity for community participants to share their own stories about Windsor.”

Portable recorders were spread throughout the meeting space, and people were encouraged to share their perspectives. Over twelve hours of content was collected! A nice start.

February’s intervention with Windsor was described by Broken City Lab as:

As part of the Broken City Lab: Save the City project, and to better understand the city and its rich and failed history, Broken City Lab researchers will host an open community event on Sunday, February 28, 2010 at 1pm to map and invent two distinct community tours—Sites of Apology and Sites of Hope.

Throughout the first part of the event, Broken City Lab will lead community participants in brainstorming the numerous sites deemed to be worthy of apology—these could include failed strip malls, roads without sidewalks, or former auto factories—along with the numerous sites that give community participants hope for the city—these could include an especially great bike trail, sites of architectural significance, or places that can be imagined as being easily improved.

Immediately following the creation of these lists, Broken City Lab will set out to demarcate and officially designate each Site of Apology and Site of Hope. At each site, a short ceremony will be held and community members are welcomed to come along to help recognize each and every site.

A map demarcating each of the designated Sites of Apology and Sites of Hope will be made available online to encourage the ongoing investigation of these sites by community members.

The results were hopeful for the downtown. Making it onto the list of Sites of Hope were the St. Clair College Mediaplex, City Hall, Capitol Theatre, the new Downtown Bus Depot, the old Downtown Bus Depot, The Downtown Windsor Farmers’ Market, Windsor Workers Action Centre , Windsor’s Community Museum, The Windsor Armories, Artcite Gallery, and more…

Of course, there were sites that straddled both the positive and negative. An important stance on results like these is to acknowledge the positives, and investigate the negatives. If there are Sites of Apology in downtown Windsor, how can we fix them? How can residents and businesses alike contribute to making these spots more revered and honoured?

For more about this meeting, and future interventions with the city, visit this post on Windsorite.ca for photos of the Sites of Apology / Sites of Hope play-by-play.

What other places do you feel could have been mentioned as Sites of Apology or Sites of Hope in the downtown and why? Leave your comments below.