Last Outdoor Market

Word on the street is that the Charlottetown Farmers’ Market will move back inside next week, making today the final iteration of the COVID-inspired outdoor rearrangement.

I managed to convince myself, and then Oliver, that we should bicycle to the market this morning, as it would be our last opportunity to cycle all the way out to the industrial edge of town to pick up smoked salmon bagels before Gallant’s comes back to the market with everyone else.

When I say that I “convinced” Oliver, that’s something of an exaggeration; despite his (occasionally very loud) protests about the cold, and his sore hands, however, he did it. All 7½ km, including a jaunt out to Riverview County Market (where Oliver executed a completely independent pumpkin purchase), and a visit to the Receiver Brass Shop for bread (all but gone from the shelves by the late hour of our arrival).

As in all previous such days that started sideways, we ended the trip tired but content.

While I know many market vendors are looking forward to moving back inside, leaving the need to set up tents and tables, to say nothing of the wind and rain, behind, I will miss the outside. Much less claustrophobic, much less COVID-nervousness-inducing, and with the bonus of breaking us out of longstanding habits and buying from vendors we’d long ignored for no other reason than well-worn ruts in our Saturday routine (yes, curried ketchup vendor, I’m looking at you!).

See you next Saturday.