There is a lot of growing interest in people attending the Williams Lake Indoor Winter Farmers Market.
Jamie Kohnke who is part of the Management Team explained how it got started.
“We have seen quite a gap in our year. The outdoor market wraps up in October and it doesn’t start again until May. A lot of people come to the market for not only our fresh food and our cool arts and crafts, it’s also a social aspect as well that’s missing for a large part of our year when we actually need it the most.”
Kohnke said she stepped forward and spearheaded it’s creation.
“We didn’t give our agricultural vendors a big enough window to be able to grow things, specifically fresh vegetables. In that respect we have a lot more baked goods, so coming into this next year of 2026-2027 our agricultural vendors are already preparing what they can grow so hopefully we’ll see a lot more fresh veggies coming in for next year. But for right now we have lots of arts and crafts and new vendors that don’t do the outdoor markets coming from 100 Mile House, Quesnel and Prince George. The Winter Market held in the Gibraltar Room is similar but a little bit different, it’s just what’s available and what vendors want to work through the winter.”
Khonke noted that this indoor market has been accepted exceptionally well by both the vendors and the public.
“It’s a place for people to meet, there are a lot of people who come and just grab a cup of coffee and hang out. We have a seating area, we’ve had live music but because it’s a small venue we’re keeping our live music a bit lower key. For the outdoor market we have a lot more music so it draws so it draws more people that way. The indoor market has been nice for the public to have something to do, somewhere to go and hang out with friends and family. There’s lots of young kids that come with their parents and grandparents that bring young kids which has been nice to see.”
April 17 will be the last indoor market and the first outdoor market is May 2 and that’s Seedling Saturday, and the regular season will start May 8.
Khonke added that their Indoor Winter Farmers Market averaged 30 vendors every market.
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