The Selkirk Port Market is back with a mix of familiar favourites and new vendors and activities that are sure to generate plenty of buzz.
City of Selkirk Culture Coordinator Ellie Longbottom said even when the weather is hot it’s cool to see people taking in the market.
“Every day is a great day to be outside and supporting the vendors and enjoying entertainment and food in Selkirk’s downtown,” Longbottom said.
“We’re not able to hold the market at the Waterfront this year, but having it in the lot on Manitoba Avenue East keeps it downtown and walkable until we can return to the Waterfront next year.”
New location for 2022, familiar and new vendors
Construction on Eveline Street and the Waterfront necessitated the move. The Port Market for this year takes place in the lot between Roxi’s and LA Music, in the same location where the city’ concert series Music on Manitoba is held this year.
Angie Neeth is back as Market Coordinator and can’t wait to see everyone.
“I’m thrilled for another fun and successful Selkirk Port Market this summer! Even after five years of coordinating the Market, it is still exciting and humbling to see the community come together, support local businesses, and take time to explore the area,” Neeth said.
“What also makes markets so important in our communities are vendors themselves being able to source local ingredients and goods from each other, which aids in the production of products and helps keep costs down for the consumers.”
Each Wednesday the Market will have different vendors, and a list of the vendors will be provided on the Selkirk Port Market Facebook page. There will be everything from everyone’s favourite – the fresh vegetables, to hand crafted jewelry, home made baking, jams, jellies, tea, clothing, body care, flowers, dog treats, buskers, food trucks, you name it, the Market will have it.
One of the new vendors this year is Cochrane Creek Farm, who will have a wide variety of pork cuts and sausages. From farmer sausage to garlic sausage, bratwurst, bacon, ribs, and so much more, as well as goat for your stews or Sunday night roast dinners.
The Market will be collecting food for the Selkirk Food Bank. Non-perishable food items are graciously accepted to help those needing food throughout the community.
“Speaking of Selkirk” recorded history booth
Selkirk turned 140 this year, and the city is giving residents a chance to share their memories of life in the city. The ‘Speaking of Selkirk’ heritage booth will make its debut at the market and people can come in and share their memories of Selkirk. Their stories will be recorded for use on the city’s oral histories series, the Selkirk Museum social media pages and website.
“We want to hear people’s stories, fun stories, stories of life here years ago, any memories they have to share,” Longbottom said.
“If you have a great story about Selkirk you can come to the ‘Speaking of Selkirk’ booth and we’ll record the video.”
The Frontier Reading Tent is back as well with two tents – staffed by interns Tazlyn and Dominick – and features an opening circle followed by a book read out loud along with a literacy-based activity. There are 15 kids per session. When the approximately half-hour session is over, the kids get to choose a free book to take home.
Sandra Ross, Community Coordinator for Frontier College, says she’s looking forward to the reading tent, which helps reduce what’s known as summer reading loss.
“The aim of each Reading Tent is to both inspire and nurture a love of reading. Kids often experience summer reading loss, a drop in literacy levels between school years, which can result in a tougher transition back to school in September,” Ross says.
“Reading aloud to children and engaging them in books year-round not only increases their success in the classroom but fosters a love of reading and an expansive imagination.”
Selkirk 140 collection available on site
The city is selling Selkirk 140 fair trade canvas tote bags, T-shirts and planning maps from 1914 that show what council of the day was considering for our fair city.
“The maps show what Selkirk was planned to look like,” said Vanessa Figus, Communications Coordinator for the city.
“They’re really popular, and they show that more than 100 years ago the city planners had roundabouts in the scheme. It’s an interesting layout.”
The T-shirts and totes were available on Canada Day and were popular.
“They’re a hot item, we sold a ton of them at the city’s Canada Day event,” Longbottom said.
The market is held Wednesdays from 10am-2pm Now through August. Additional Market information can be found HERE or by calling CitizenSupport at
204-785-4900
