See you Saturday at 1496 Lower Water Street
- Emily Huang
- Oct 7
- 2 min read
Come with me to the Halifax Brewery Market Saturday morning. Farmers, bakers, florists, and crafters, painters, makers, chefs, and baristas – rain or shine, year after year – travel with their vans packed to the brim before dawn from The Valley and South Shore and set up on Lower Water Street to prepare displays that charm eyes and satiate curious tastes.
When I see Ted’s rainbow of produce at Hutten Family Farm, I’m treated to a beautiful feast. The first sweet cherries of the season, strawberries picked the night before, beans shimmering under morning dew, and rows and rows of greens of all textures are irresistible. I’m lingering because I count down the handful of Saturdays before a chill sets over that marks the beginning of fall. Ted will tell you planting and growing is a fickle business. I’ve heard stories that he can tell you exactly the date, weather, and conditions each of his 200+ different crops were planted in going back at least a few years: cherry trees have been particularly thriving this summer because of the relatively drier weather across the island.
Moseying over to the info booth, tucked behind the historic double French doors of The Brewery, I greet the market managers, a small team who expertly conduct the intricate choreography of market operations. I was lucky to work with them over the summer, learning about the market ecosystem, a delicate balance of community building, municipal politics, government funding, and non-profit collaborations. This tight knit group is a power house, transforming the local food economy from behind the scenes with each project that extends opportunities in Halifax to purchase directly from local and independent producers and makers.
Stepping inside The Brewery’s building, busker tunes mix and echo with lively and buzzy chatter of market visitors with the first coffees of the morning in hand. I follow a trail of whimsical displays: Sebastian of Green Gardens’ baskets chockfull of basil leaves, sweet wild flower bouquets Siobhan tastefully arranged at Little Crest Florals, finely stacked towers of lavender olive oil soaps at Skinkind. I feel a little indulgent as I browse and shop my way around the kitchen area where each vendor showcases their fabulous cultures through sharing food from across the counter.
As I weave through crowds, the market symphony retreats into the back as I stop to connect with my favourite people! The market is never exactly the same yet anchored in the season and stories told over something grown or made with care. So I carry my tote – a little heavier – and walk back up the hill knowing that I’ll be back, again.
Since I began writing this piece on The Brewery farmer’s market, the drought impacts on Nova Scotia farms is making farming this season increasingly difficult, with farmers accumulating extra costs and labour just to get by. Read Farmers Market Nova Scotia’s online article on strategies farmers are adopting:
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