The venerable market west of Ottawa's downtown has weathered some uncertain times over the past century, including almost being turned into a parking lot in the 1950s. But it's kept going, and today it's celebrating its 100th birthday.Parkdale Market vendors Brigitte and Michel Robinson pose for a photo next to some of their flowers as they pause from preparing their stall for the 2024 season. This year will mark the 100th anniversary of the market west of Ottawa's downtown.
And this weekend — with a more gender-diverse customer base, cloth bags instead of baskets, and yes, some actual farmers — the venerable Hintonburg market will officially launch its 100th season in the nation's capital. "People's consumer habits have changed, of course, in the last 100 years," said Barton, who previously sold prepared vegan fare at the market.
The market went up on a former sawmill site that the city would lease each year from its Montreal-based owner. Farmers would weigh their goods inside an unheated, "rickety old wooden shack" on the site, Allston said. Marketgoers would trudge up and down a wooden sidewalk the city had installed on what was otherwise a dirt field.
"That's kind of emblematic of how the city's always kind of done this thing. They always kind of dither too long on something, and then they do what they should have done in the first place — and have to pay more for it." After the Queensway arrived in the 1950s, one committee recommended converting the market site into a parking lot, an idea that came precariously close to passing, Allston said. When Ottawa's streetcar tracks came out, there was talk of moving the market to the newly available space on Byron Avenue.
It's a great time for public space, because we are going to come out and we are going to be with each other.But that willingness to protect the Parkdale Market means it's now a focal point for community-building in Hintonburg, with several vendors saying they've built strong connections with patrons who've come out to shop over the years.
"Some come on Monday, some come on Tuesday, some come on Wednesday. It's a regular thing," said co-owner Brigitte Robinson, who embraced several customers who happened to be passing by last week as she and her husband Michel got their stand ready for the season. For the Parkdale Market, distancing rules and the like meant vendors had to change how they operate, with customers unable to browse as freely as they once did and transactions being conducted over a table at the front of the stand.
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