REGINA - The Regina Farmers' Market (RFM) has brought vendors and residents together to shop locally for nearly 50 years.
Established in 1975, RFM has been a staple in the downtown core. Last year, the event moved from 11th Avenue to Confederation Park, located in the REAL District.
"It's definitely been a change," said Holly Laird, RFM executive director. Laird mentioned that RFM originally started out on the exhibition grounds, with 12 farmers gathered during that day.
Even with the changes, FRM "had a great season last year. Customers and vendors [were] both happy. I’d say it turned out better than we could have even imagined."
One of those vendors is Raquel Vigueras, who owns Pueblo Chili Co.
Vigueras started her business back in 2019 while she was still working as a full-time graphic designer. With limited time to work on her company, Vigueras decided to focus on getting her products into stores.
After quitting her job in 2020 because of being a little burnt out, Vigueras started to focus on scaling her business.
"[So], markets became a priority of mine. Having face-to-face interactions with customers became a huge priority, and so I expanded into markets and then also into a lot of stores as well," she said.
Vigueras has found attending farmers' markets to be amazing because of her customers, who are supportive and willing to help guide new faces to understand her products better.
Since becoming a vendor at the RFM, Vigueras believes she’s made close to $100,000 from the event in three years.
"[This event] really helps me grow my business. Having a venue where I can sell my products once a week in the wintertime, two to three times a week in the summertime, it just really allows me to grow my business, like, exponentially, [because] I can count on having income every single week."
Concern of Tariffs
Many businesses across Canada are continuing to watch and see if U.S. President Donald Trump will impose 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian goods come March 4th.
Laird noted she’s had conversations with customers and vendors about the tariffs. "There’s definitely is a bit of concern from vendors in terms of getting things like their packaging, if they order things [from the U.S.] and what the tariffs might mean for them on those products."
Vigueras is one vendor that has some of her materials imported from the U.S.
She mentioned "having a lot of trouble sourcing some products from Canada."
Vigueras has been doing extensive research into Canadian imports, making cold calls and contacting different suppliers/businesses to get everything sorted out. While it’s been a lot of work, she isn’t worried about it.
With the potential for tariffs, vendors are seeing a big shift in residents who want to support local businesses.
"I [am getting people [that will] take my business, take my products, saying that they are happy to be supporting Canadian, be supporting local, instead of the Frank's Red Hots or the... Louisiana Hot Sauce, [that are produced in the U.S.]," Vigueras said.
Laird pointed out, "I think people are [also being more aware of the impact that their dollars have and where they're putting their dollars."
She referenced a study done that showed for every dollar spent at a farmers' market vendor's booth. It creates three dollars of economic activity.
Vigueras is also aiming to grow local economy's. She recently pulled her products out of major grocery chains to get residents to buy more of her products from locally owned shops.
Her focus is to expand her products across the prairies and eventually Canada while finding more locally owned shops to sell them in.
As for the RFM, Laird said they will likely continue to be at Confederation Park this year for their Saturday farmers' market, then downtown for their Wednesday ones during the summer.
Visit Regina Farmers' Market's website for more information about their schedule.
