Charles Dickson
Chapeau June 17, 2021
Eleven vendors were on hand at the farmers’ market on a beautiful Thursday afternoon in Chapeau last week, offering vegetables, plants and crafts, with fruit, honey, baked goods and meat, among other products, expected to be available as the season progresses.
The market opened on June 10 for what will be its first year, which Gene O’Brien describes as a pilot project with the goal of showing that it is possible to have a viable market in the upper Pontiac.
O’Brien says the origins of the market go back to the Chapeau Fair, which was operated for years by the Chapeau Agricultural Society, of which O’Brien is a former and the current president. She says it was almost 15 years ago, as the costs of running the fair were getting too high, that thoughts started to turn to the idea of putting on a farmers’ market instead.
When one of the barns at the fairgrounds collapsed in 2019, using the insurance money to construct a building for a farmers’ market became a possibility. MAPAQ agreed to contribute to the construction fund, pending the completion of a feasibility study.
“Meanwhile, we will operate under our tent,” says O’Brien.
O’Brien says they have been very fortunate to obtain funding from different sources, including MRC Pontiac, Caisse Populaire, the Municipality of Allumette Island, CISSSO and the federal New Horizon program.
“They have been very supportive of our project, so we can continue to reach our objective of operating a farmers’ market in our region,” she says.
“And all the vendors are members of the Chapeau Agricultural Society, so the farmers’ market feels like a renaissance for the organization,” says O’Brien.
The Chapeau Farmers’ Market is open every Thursday from 3 to 7 p.m. through to September.
