More than 60 vendors were affected by the massive fire that destroyed the St. Jacobs Farmers' Market.
Now many of them are doing what they can to get back in business.
Some have set up shop at the Cambridge Fall Fair. Organizers of the fair, along with the Cambridge Arts Festival, generously offered vendors free space at the fair.
Joe Clute was grateful for the offer. “When [they] approached me and offered to help get me back into the community and help re-establish myself as a vendor in the area, it was great.”
Clute, the sales director at Sunset Gourmet, says he worked every Saturday at the market and his business doesn’t have a secondary retail location.
Grainharvest Breadhouse, another business affected by the fire, has two other locations. Co-owner David Notzold says he wants to help other vendors get back on their feet.
“Some of the vendors that don’t have the opportunity to selling their products somewhere else, you know, they might not be back.”
So Grainharvest has organized a fundraiser, called “Vendors in Need”, for those who lost inventory and don't have insurance.
“We’re not fundraising for us,” says Notzold. “We’re fundraising for the people who lost their businesss.”
To donate to “Vendors in Need” go to grainharvest.ca.
