Last weekend’s sudden cancellation of the Downtown Windsor Farmers Market due to early morning severe weather resulted in a pleasant flood of support for several small business vendors.
General Manager Steve Green said upwards of 15 vendors with physical store locations across Windsor-Essex reported a boost in sales after the market was cancelled for the first time in its history.
“The street was flooded, still lots of lightning, still lots of rain happening at set up time, which is around 6 a.m. in the morning for us,” Green explained. “Had to make that tough call. It's one of those ones as a general manager that you never really want to make. It hurts us all as a small business.”
But Essex County business owners at places like the East Beach Flower Farm, Auntie Aldoo’s Bakery & Coffee Shop and The Iron Kettle Bed and Breakfast said the abrupt cancellation led to a boon in business.
“We absolutely sold out,” exclaimed East Beach Flower Farm co-owner Sherri Toole. “And not only did I sell out, I had to run to my field and pick buckets as much as I could from the field that Saturday to just fill the orders for the people that had already driven all the way out here.”
Toole said many customers made special trips into Essex County after seeing market vendors make concerned social media posts about last minute changes due to the cancelled market.
Toole explained, “I'm surprised but at the same time not because the Downtown Windsor Farmers Market has a very dedicated community.”
Staff at the Iron Kettle were pleased after initial fear that all the baked goods they prepared for the market would be lost along with all profits.
“It's the time that's spent in terms of getting to that point. That's the real kicker. And I think at this point for me, it wasn't about money. It's just I had a lot of food.”
Owner Ben Leblanc said hundreds of customers made the trip to Comber after he made a social media post, forcing the small business to close early for the weekend with no products left to offer.
“By noon we were done. We had nothing left. Not a jar of jam, nothing that you know, whether fresh or not, that we made ahead of time. And then I looked at my phone to see all these messages and miss calls because it was a blur.”
Leblanc added, “This post had been shared 455 times and 120,000 people had seen it and so really all of Essex County was coming to Comber!”
Farmers Market officials said it’s back to business as usual this Saturday on Pelissier Street from 9-2, with sunny skies in the forecast.
Steve Green told CTV News around 70 vendors are expected to be on hand.
“We’re all back at it tomorrow,” Green said. “I think we're gonna have a good day tomorrow. The weather, it looks fantastic and whenever we have a sunny day at the market it's always advisable to be there around opening time or you could be going home empty handed.”
