The Best Farmers' Markets in Toronto

Brickworks beaten out by Withrow Park and Nathan Phillips? Not in my book. Nathan Phillips is overpriced and underwhelming and Withrow Park can't match Brickworks' variety. Makes me doubt the remainder of the ratings.

@ Mark

Pssst... these aren't rated. The list is presented by Josh in no particular order.

Can anyone suggest the best way to bike to the Brickworks? You know, the way least likely to get me killed?

"Can anyone suggest the best way to bike to the Brickworks? You know, the way least likely to get me killed?"

Heck, isn't it right off a BIKE PATH? The roads around there are not bad either. Bayview, of course, has fast and aggressive traffic, but it also happens to have a wide paved shoulder. And Pottery Rd. is pretty tame, and has tons of cyclists.

Directions to the Brick Works, right from their site (includes cycling directions): http://evergreen.ca/rethinkspace/?p=124 .

I'm going to reserve judgement on the Brickworks until later in the season, so far it's not exactly much of a farmers market, a large number of the stands are more prepared foods and crafts.

That's the difficulty this time of year. Most things aren't ready yet, and with the weird weather, it's been extra difficult. Usually you can find some greens and other early items, but before too long the markets will be stocked full.

I really like the market in Liberty Village for local apples and pears.

The TTC will be having a bus route to the Brickworks as of June 7 (next saturday), the 28A from Davisille station. There's also a free shuttle bus that you can catch from Broadview Station.

If you really want to make sure you get the best quality, you really have to talk to the vendors and know what -should- be in season. In many 'Farmers Markets', the produce isn't from a local farm, but instead from California and Florida. I can't give any numbers for Toronto markets, but I know the one at City Hall in Kingston is about 60% of these folks. To make matters worse, not only is their produce from the other side of the continent, but it all comes from the same supplier.

So yeah, if you see something out of season sitting there nice and ripe, avoid it. Chances are not a shred of it is locally grown

http://www.my-market.ca/
If you go to that website, I believe it says that any farmer's market in Toronto that is certified by "My Market" only has farmers that sell their own produce and only from with in the Greenbelt.
The Liberty Village Farmer's Market would be an example of this.

Thanks for the info R.S.

This sort of thing should really be the standard

Has anyone been to the farmer's market at High Park? Is it any good?

I went to the High Park market this weekend and wasn't overly impressed. The selection is smallish and included local and imported fruit (mango's and pineapple anyone?) and veggies. The organic produce looked OK but was expensive - so I guess it's worth going if you're looking for organic produce and willing to pay top dollar for it.

That's too bad re High Park. It's run (or at least was run) by Digs Dorfman, owner of The Sweet Potato, and at his store he maintains excellent pricing for organic products. Maybe he's taking the best sources from the market to stock his store - if his claims are true, his fresh foods, and their prices, will be unbelievable this summer.

High Park deserves to have one of the city's best farmers markets.

Again Scarborough is left off the list - big surprise. I like BlogTO (if fact they used my photo for the Brickworks entry above) but God, you'd think all Scarborough has to offer is Johnnys Hamburgers from reading this site. Anyway, the BirchCliff Village Farmers' Market - while not the best in the City - is a very good farmers market that deserves some attention. So there, #16 is BirchCliff Village http://www.marketsbythebluffs.com/about.html

I dunno ...

For those in the East End, a brand new Farmers' Market will be starting this Thursday evenings in East Lynn Park.

Info: http://www.danfortheast.ca/

I was at the farmer's market across from the Dufferin Mall on the weekend. $6 for a rather small loaf of Spelt bread is not cool. Tasty, but not cool. Until prices overall come down as the growing season progresses, rating is pointless.

Bread prices are a result of a lot of things, very little of which the local baker can do much about. Or, probably, local farmers. Lots of bakeries are raising prices and/or shrinking loaf sizes as a result of higher grain costs, and also the higher costs of transporting said grain.

On that note, produce prices may be up this year as well, with the higher costs for the regional farmers to drive their trucks into town. $40 for half a tank in a VW Golf is nothing in comparison.

Something to keep in mind: This time of year the markets are just opening and not all of the vendors are out yet. So, any market that looks small now might not be in a month.

R.S., that My Markets thing doesn't seem like it's an open certification process that markets can apply for, but rather that they open their own markets with the guarantee that they're entirely local. None of those locations are at all local to me, so it doesn't help me at all that they're doing that... whereas it would be nice if Weston or High Park had the option of applying to be certified like that if they were able to.It's perfectly easy to go to any market and ask where produce is from as well as figure out who just found some produce and threw it into a truck and who is actually there from a farm. The former may not be overly forthcoming with that info, but the farmers are always pretty obvious about who they are and what if anything makes them special.

Regarding the High Park market, I've been weekly all year and I really don't understand the comment about high prices for organic produce. .99 cents for a bunch of organic broccoli, $1.49 for the most beautiful and massive heads of locally grown organic lettuces just to mention a few. I think these are by far the best prices I've seen at organic markets/stores across the city.

Information like this is good to know for not only locals but also tourists that want to mingle with some of the locals in the area

dufferin grove is *not* a proper farmers market - the majority of what is sold there is trucked (or flown) in from far, far away - if the bananas don't give it away, the plastic tags and other packaging do.

Dufferin Grove should not be rated number one! My sister and I were curious and went to the Dufferin Grive market last Thursday. I would argue that it was the WORST market in the city. There's nothing wrong with organic of course, but I think it is absolutely ridiculous to charge $8 or more for a loaf of bread. The strawberries I bought were also incredibly expensive, almost double the price of the St. Lawrence Market. It's funny because not everything was local either!
Living just down the street from the St. Lawrence Market, I go to the St. Lawrence Farmer's market almost every Saturday. It is by far my favourite in terms of variety and freshness and price of products. I have also been to the Riverdale Farm farmer's market and Liberty Village which are small in comparison, but alright.

I would like to go to the Brickworks market next!