St. Lawrence Market

It happens every Saturday and without fail. Their day begins as most are heading to bed in the early hours of Saturday morning.  The farmers pack up their goods, begin their journey into the city core, and begin to set up at 4:00am at the market on Front street.

This has been a tradition for a generation before ours and our parents. The people may have changed, but the tradition itself has held its ground for each new person who discovers this jewel smack dab in the middle of the city.  St Lawrence Market has transformed itself over the decades as well as received a face lift or two,  but the idea that we can get fresh produce and a meat selection like no other in the city has stood its ground and is about to renew itself yet again with a new addition to the institution sandwiched between St. Lawrence Hall and the Market on the south side of Front street.
In the early 70's, the one level building on the south west corner of Jarvis and Front was the new hub of activity for the farmers market. With only the market and original town hall next to it, there was sufficient parking everywhere, including right next to it, which we now know as Metro or the Rainbow Cinemas.  Toronto was a growing city, rich with culture even in the 70's, but who knew that what was ahead in the coming decades would create an even greater need for a market such as this.

Farm land began at Eglinton Avenue. Travelling into the city core was not such a long trip in those times.  Traffic congestion didn't exist like we know it now and sure there was a need for fresh "country" produce back then, but to take a leisurely drive north on the weekends, you didn't have to drive far to get it.
St Lawrence market has always been right in the heart of the city.  Originally it was right in the heart of York.  A meeting place, a market, and a hub of activity-as it still remains today.  To get to the country now  traveling from the city core, involves a bit more driving, a little more frustration, and a lot more time.  There is an even greater need to have that fresh-not frozen substance we so greatly desire in a time when processed food remains king.
Organic is the new word thrown around these days, and in every grocery store you will find a section dedicated to this "trend", but you wont find a selection of it like at the Market.  In October, the city went public looking to find a new design firm to create a new jewel for the market replacing the current farmers market building at the corner of Front and Jarvis.  Unlike the current building, the new one must have an underground parking lot to house not only the vendors vehicles, but the new generation of shoppers that the new building will attract.  It will be a multi use facility as well.  New court rooms which the city so desperately needs will also be housed here, but updating this relic and unsightly one at that, will be exactly what this area needs.  While the new facility is being built, the farmers market will be relocated south behind St Lawrence market on the Esplanade.  The new building should take roughly 2 years to complete,  and hopefully will mesh the old and the new like this area was meant to.