Have you ever seen a Farmer’s Market on wheels? Beginning today, the freshness of the farm comes direct to the city as FarmCity Fresh Cart makes its debut on the streets of downtown Vancouver and New Westminster.
A partnership between Re-Up BBQ and FarmCity Co-op, FarmCity Fresh Cart is a groundbreaking, farmers’ market-inspired kiosk featuring an ever-changing bounty of local, sustainably farmed fruit and produce as well as products and snacks prepared by local businesses.
In addition to fruit and vegetables available in both bulk and pre-packaged portions, FarmCity Fresh Cart offers pastured eggs, local honey, preserves, sodas made from locally farmed fruit and an assortment of snacks and salads. Visitors will also be able to purchase take-home products such as bacon and cured meat from Re-Up BBQ, cocktail bitters and culinary extracts from Bittered Sling, seeds and merchandise from Victory Gardens, artisan pasta from Pasta Famiglia and cold-pressed juice from SPUD, as well as meat and deli products from pastured animals, prepared by local chefs.
“FarmCity Fresh Cart is an innovative, grassroots means of nurturing and growing a network that links urban farms with local restaurants and consumers,” says Re-up BBQ co-partner Lindsay Kaisaris. “We’re excited for the collaboration that the Fresh Cart brings — we’re able to pool crucial resources to help generate profits and exposure for local farmers and small businesses that may not have had the same opportunity on their own.”
FarmCity Fresh Cart will regularly appear on the corner of Hornby and West Georgia Streets in downtown Vancouver, most weekdays from 11am to 2pm. In New Westminster, FarmCity Fresh Cart will be at Hyack Square most weekday evenings from 4pm to 6:30pm, and on Saturdays.
In addition, Vancouverites will have the opportunity to get acquainted with the FarmCity Fresh Cart and meet some of its parters and suppliers on Sunday July 20 (from 4pm to 10pm) when Urban Digs Farm in South Burnaby hosts an all-ages open house and BBQ with live music and drinks. Tickets and further details are available via Eventbrite.
Those interested in keeping track of the Fresh Cart’s whereabouts can follow @CityFreshCart on Twitter. For further information, visit farmcity.coop/fresh-cart.
