Harold and Brenda Johnston are back hosting their fifth season of the Red Market Barn. The beloved summer market held Sundays are enjoyed every year by locals and visitors from far and wide.
“We try to mix it up every week, but still have everything people expect each week,” Brenda said. “And we have a rather nice routine with a lot of our vendors of, every other week.”
“We don’t lack variety in vendors and have everything from home made products, arts, crafts, homegrown food, and more. And we have music every week as well as lots of food available.”
The Red Market Barn, in the loft, will now be selling the Angel book series by Henry Ripplinger – a Saskatchewan author.
Brenda also says that she welcomes community groups to fundraise at the Red Market Barn as well, all they have to do is give her a call to set up a good day for them to come out.
“This week one of my main bakers wasn’t going to be able to make it, so I called Jen Wotta from Arcola, her son is playing hockey with Selects Hockey this year and I knew they were looking for a fundraiser, so I said if they wanted a table to sell baking they could have one,” Brenda explained. “We’ve had a girl here with her Cancer Sucks Project which was raising funds for the Cancer Centre, Wawota Raise the Rafters have been here a couple of times, a group from Maryfield just sold tickets. So, we’re happy to help promote local groups and we can potentially have two to three here a week depending on if they need a table or if they are just selling tickets.”
If interested in an opportunity to fundraise during a market day at the Red Market Barn contact Brenda at (306)577-1005.
This year a lot of work was put into their yard before the grand opening to ensure continued success of the seasonal market.
“We’ve moved the fence out eight feet which gave us quite a bit more room and we’ve built a new ticket booth,” Brenda said. “So we’ve revamped the whole yard and it’s made for a better flow of people. Harold also painted the barn this year.”
The market will be open every Sunday starting June 18 where “the best shopping in southeast Saskatchewan on Sundays” can be found.
One unique vendor, which will be out every week, are Triple H Homestead. A couple from Hudson Bay, Marlon Jugl and Sabine Weibrich, who in 2009 came to Canada and settled near Hudson Bay, SK. They are currently in the process of building their homestead and business in a sustainable way.
They live with kerosene lights, wood cook stove and furnace, using as little power as possible – although they do have solar panels and generator if needed. Their goal is to live sustainably, at one with nature.
“Most of what we sell was grown by us, but we’re not able to grow things like vanilla or oranges, so we have organic suppliers, as local as possible, that we source from,” Jugl stated.
They sell a variety of jams, noodles, spices (no fillers and no salt), and herbal teas. One of their unique dishes are the chocolate noodles and peach rum dessert sauce.
“We take advantage of nature as well, there’s a lot of wilderness in Saskatchewan and we’re able to forage, to harvest that as well,” Jugl added.
Their efforts see German and Saskatchewan traditions come together.
“She [Weibrich] can combine anything and make it taste good; specifically Saskatchewan tastes with German recipes to create something new,” Jugl said.
Weibrich pointed to one product to explain, “This is the Rose of Saskatchewan, and it’s a jam, but it’s made with rose water and saskatoons. Or we have saskatoon streusel, which a streusel is usually made with apples, but this one is made with saskatoons and they fit together awesomely.”
