For the Rimbey Farmers Market, 2020 is a year that won’t be forgotten for several reasons, one of those being the celebration of 40 years in the community. 

“We feel pretty good about doing 40 years. First, we had a whole bunch of partying planned until we had COVID-19. It hasn’t been hard, I wouldn’t say it’s hard, but it’s just about adapting,” said Gayle Rondeel, Rimbey’s Farmer’s Market Manager. 

Rondeel noted that she had tried to find a bit of history on the market, but had a bit of difficulty finding sources. 

“We tried to find out how many markets were operating back then. We phoned the Alberta Agriculture but they didn’t have the records they were missing. Then, we phoned the Alberta Farmer’s Market Association and they didn’t have any records because they weren’t an association back then. We happened to find an old newspaper ad and I am not sure if it was all the farmer's markets or just the northern area but there was only just a few markets like Leduc, Drayton Valley, and Strathcona,” said Rondeel. 

40 years later, the market still boasts crowds of locals who still love to support the market. This year, the market was postponed a bit later than normal, but Rondeel said the first market of the year was quite busy. 

“We normally open the first Saturday in May. This time we opened the first Saturday in June. We did hold off a bit for sure. We also changed our time from 9:30 to 11:30 to 9:30 to 12:30 to give people more time to shop so they can practice social distancing,” said Rondeel. 

Due to some construction on the road to the market’s usual home at Paskapoo Park, the market had to be moved this year. It was a last-minute move for Rondeel who had to change the venue the night before the first market, but ultimately, she believes everything has worked out for the best. 

“It’s a beautiful venue that we have at the Rimbery Ridge Hotel and Suites. They invited us there which was just super of them. We have use of their washrooms and they’re letting the vendors use power plugins. It’s just a really nice place,” explained Rondeel. 

The market will stay at the Rimbey Ridge Hotel and Suites for the remainder of the season. Next year, the market will return to Paskapoo Park once again. 

This year, Rondeel is excited to run the market in whatever capacity she is able to and give the community other options for local shopping.  

“I think that the farmers market is important to support the local economy because most of our vendors are local vendors. When people come and spend their monies in the market, those people turn around and spend their monies in town. It’s like a win-win situation,” added Rondeel.