A Lethbridge resident asks for directions to navigate the various vendors that are taking part of this year’s The Big Christmas Farmers Market and Trade show at Exhibition Park on Nov. 13, 2020.
The different aromas in the air and the warmth of the environment inside the West Pavilion creates the perfect atmosphere for Christmas cheer. While waiting in a socially distanced line, patrons get ready to be screened for Covid-19 before enjoying the displays of Christmas spirit many vendors have prepared for them.
With positive cases of the virus rising, Lethbridge residents find comfort in the fact that they can still take part in trade shows like the Farmers Market.
From the outbreak of the pandemic in March, farmers markets were deemed essential services and the Exhibition Park staff is making adjustments to make everyone in attendance safe. They needed to find a way to deliver these trade shows in a safe and responsible way.
What is different from the regular farmers market is that everybody coming to The Big Christmas Farmers Market and Tradeshow will have to be screened for Covid-19. “We’re going to have two halls of our building that are specifically dedicated to just screening people and queuing people appropriately,” said Mike Warkentin, Exhibition Park Chief Operating Officer.
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They had over 40,000 people come through their farmers market this summer with no knowledge of anyone getting sick in them. They took precautions to have everyone significantly socially distanced, they mandated masks at the farmers market before the city mandated masks, they had a magnitude of hand sanitizers around and they asked their vendors to put up plastic shields.
All of those elements are being carried forward to The Big Christmas Farmers Market and Tradeshow. The event is split into two weekends to meet the standard of Alberta Health Services to socially distance. They needed to space the vendors out, while being able to give an equal opportunity to everyone that is traditionally in their event.
These measures also benefit new vendors like The Little Nicaragua Coffee company, a family-owned and operated business that is offering coffee straight from their family farm in Nicaragua. It is joining The Big Christmas Farmers Market and Tradeshow for the first time.
Their farm has been in their family for generations. “We are the farm and the roasters, are what really sets us apart from everybody else in town here. This year we were able to join the farmers market which was really nice to get our name out there and get noticed by the people of Lethbridge. We will be joining them as well for the Christmas markets mid-November and end of November,” said Dylan Morris, co-owner of The Little Nicaragua Coffee company.
The farm has been in their family directly for about 15 years and they have been working on making it self-sufficient for the last 12 years. “It’s finally getting to the point where we’re getting enough coffee to be able to bring it up and sell it here in Canada,” said David Ubeda, co-owner of The Little Nicaragua Coffee company and grandson of the prior farm owner.
On Nov. 27 and 28 at The Big Christmas Farmers’ Markets and Tradeshow they will be offering cups of their drip coffee, ice coffee, plantain chips, cinnamon bites and tostones, delicious Nicaraguan treats.
