Last week, some members of the organization and several producers were able to attend the monthly meeting of the EOAN being organized and hosted by Ottawa Markets. This organization, made up of a small team of passionate people involved in the field, is responsible not only for the ByWard Market but also for a few other markets in Ottawa and the surrounding area.
Located on the second floor of 55 Byward Market Square, the offices and meeting place were already waiting for guests with food prepared by Chef Ric’s in partnership with his organization The Mission, which aims to help certain disadvantaged people enter the labour market more easily in the food sector. After the presentation of the hard-working team of Ottawa Markets, they gave the guests the pleasure of taking a guided tour of the historic site that is the ByWard Market while explaining the difficulties and the pleasures encountered when they organize such a voluminous public market. For example, to save space, the ByWard Market can now accommodate more vendors thanks to industrial containers placed in strategic locations on streets in downtown Ottawa. These explanations giving a human side behind this impressive organization even gave interest to some members present to gather more information to possibly come and try and test the sale of fresh and local products to some markets in the region.
Finally, the people at the meeting were able to exchange passionate conversations about their side and their reality as a producer, organizer, member of an organization or other that binds everyone on one thing : local food.
