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Hundreds showed up at the city's Somba K'e Civic Plaza on Tuesday to see what vendors from across the city had to offer at Yellowknife's first farmers market of the season. - Cody Punter/NNSL photo

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The city's Somba K'e Civic Plaza was full of life as hundreds of residents showed up to check out the city's first farmers market, which was held in conjunction with the city's weekly summer garden party on Tuesday.

"We're blown away," said Sarah Johnson, a volunteer with Yellowknife Commons Co-operative, who estimated that more than 300 hundred people showed up throughout the evening.

"We're grateful that the community came out to support us."

The event, which is organized by the Yellowknife Commons Co-operative, featured 19 vendors with community businesses and residents selling a mix of goods, from homemade ice cream and eggs from Hay River, to tomato plants and composting worms.

"It's so great that people bring all these different things to offer - there is such a uniqueness," said Xiaoyi Yan, who came to the market look for plants for her new garden. "I've been talking to people and learning about gardening."

Although Yan just started gardening for the first time this spring, she said she has been looking forward to the farmers market for a long time.

"You can't really go to Wal-Mart to find all this."

The market officially opened at 5:15 p.m. and was supposed to run until 8 p.m. but so many people showed up that a lot of vendors were sold out of goods before the market actually closed.

"Holy mother, I was bombarded," said nutritionist Lorie Crawford. "We were sold out by 10 to six."

Crawford was selling a range of gluten-, dairy- and egg-free dishes that proved highly popular with the crowds. One of her main attractions was a raw pad Thai dish that used zucchini instead of the usual egg-based noodles. In the future, Crawford hopes to bring her juicer to the market so she can sell freshly-squeezed juices and smoothies.

Crawford also said she will be better prepared for next week, now she knows how high the demand for her food is.

Edible treats and plants weren't the only things on the menu on Tuesday.

Tasha Stephenson, was selling some house plants and herbs that she had grown in her garden at home, but the thing that drew the most attention was her bucket of worms.

"I'm actually know as the worm lady," said a laughing Stephenson. The worms, which she cultivates indoors at her house, help speed up the process that breaks down compost.

In order to participate, vendors must first pay a membership fee. They then have the option of paying either a one-off fee to reserve a space, or a seasonal fee which allows the vendor to set up every Tuesday from now until the end of September.

According to Johnson, anyone can be a vendor at the farmers market, so long as what they are selling is homegrown or homemade. Although the market hopes to focus on selling food and food products, people can also sell arts and crafts. However, for the month of June, the co-operative is enforcing a rule that all crafters and artisans are required to sell a homemade or homegrown food product.

While it is still too early in the season to be selling fresh produce, gardeners are hopeful they will have something to sell by the end of June.

In the meantime, Johnson hopes this week's huge turnout is a sign of good things to come.

"It's the first day, so it's only going to get better from here."

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