A Burnaby chef wants to start a farmers market in an industrial neighbourhood, one he thinks needs to be “flipped upside down.”
Shay Kelly, owner of The Caterer and T-Bird Café at 106-3191 Thunderbird Cres., says there’s not much happening in that area, near the Production Way SkyTrain station.
To shake things up, he envisions a weekly market in his parking lot, where local farmers from here to as far as Penticton could sell their goods.
“I want to be able to show them off,” Kelly told the NOW. “I’m more about the small guys rather than the huge guy that’s got multiple farms. I want to give the small guy an opportunity.”
A year-round market would also give locals another choice when it comes to picking up lunch or dinner, he added.
“I want people eating good food. I want to get them out of supermarkets and be able to buy something you can take home. ... We have everything we need here, however, we’re just turning the other way to go to Mexico to bring in avocados that aren’t even ripe.”
The idea is to have the market run on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. As folks shop, they can grab a pint at nearby Dageraad Brewing or pick up a sandwich at T-Bird Café.
“We’d be creating this little melting pot, and I think this little neighbourhood really needs it,” said Kelly.
He wouldn’t charge vendors for a booth – only a one-time $50 fee for a photographer to come in and take a headshot, which would accompany a mini write-up about the vendor. Kelly said each portrait would be put on his wall, a tribute to his commitment to buy local.
“I want to have a market here where I have all my vendors – my chicken guys – whoever is on the wall, and T-Bird café will only turn into a locally based outlet.”
Admission into the market would be by donation, according to Kelly, and donations would be doled out to a different charity every month. Meanwhile, each tenant in the Thunderbird Crescent complex that allows Kelly to use their parking lot space would be given a basket of goods as a thank you.
“So there’s no money exchanged,” he said. “I don’t want to do that. It gets messy.”
The City of Burnaby already has a farmers market, which operates out of the north parking lot at Burnaby City Hall on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Kelly has called to city to inquire about starting up another market, but has been told “no” because it would be in an industrial zone.
Calls to the city’s planning department were not returned.
Though Kelly may not get OK from the city, he might be able to swing a few markets here and there because of the 10 special event licences he gets every year.
“I would love to do it weekly, but realistically, it’ll be twice a month, once a month or every six weeks to start,” he said.
