Monthly Archives: August 2022

You Can’t Have Too Many Farmers’ Markets in Calgary

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Folks are flocking to the new Calgary Farmers’ Market location

If you ever thought Calgary was oversaturated with farmers’ markets, think again.

When the Calgary Farmers’ Market opened its long-awaited second location last week, in the city’s west end near Canada Olympic Park, there were 35,000 shoppers and gawkers who passed through its doors, a vendor told me… in one day!

Its high-ceilinged, 55,000-square-foot indoor building, and its some 75 vendors, seem capable of handling such mobs. I’m not so sure about the traffic.

A majestically long, high-ceilinged building

When I visited on a glorious Friday morning, a week later, it was a game of musical cars, with multiple motorists waiting for someone to leave so they could park. The traffic spilled over from the paved lots to a gravel yard to the north.

It’s not like everyone was rushing to save money. I saw lots of meals, from the various food vendors costing $15-plus dollars. The produce and other foodstuffs are nice but not exactly cheap, for anyone expecting a rural, bare-bones experience.

Fresh fruit is always a draw

But this is Calgary, where folks are accustomed to, and maybe even expect, upscale farmers’ markets. Indeed, it’s a pleasant place to shop, wander and meet with friends.

And the aisles are sufficiently wide to avoid the indoor traffic jams—known as stroller Fridays— that plagued previous incarnations of this market.

Luc’s cheeses are a mainstay at both Farmers’ Market

Phil &Sebastian is returning to Calgary Farmers’ Market after a long absence
You should order one of Renay’s fabulous, gluten-free birthday cakes

Calgary Farmers’ Market West
25 Greenbriar Drive NW, Calgary
Wednesday to Saturday 9 am-7 pm, Sunday 9 am-5 pm

Serving Up Pie in Alberta’s Remote Foothills

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Loading up plates of pie at The Miners’ Cafe in Nordegg, Alberta

I’m not sure there’s a foolproof formula for a successful restaurant, especially after all the shutdowns and draconian regulations of the past two-plus years. But if there is, I’m betting it has something to do with pies.

It’s hard to resist the temptation, and aroma, of fresh-baked fruit pies, witness the allure of places like Shuswap Pie Company in Salmon Arm, B.C. or Pie Junkie, and their butter-rich crusts, in Calgary.

But to prove that a pie-laden concept can work even in the boondocks, I present as evidence The Miners’ Café, in the forested foothills of west-central Alberta.

Where? An hour’s drive west of Rocky Mountain House. Where’s that? More than two hours north of Calgary.

Let’s put it this way. Nordegg is a former coal-mining town that’s been elevated from ghost town to hamlet, population less than 100.

And yet, there were half a dozen people in line ahead of me, when I pulled into The Miners’ Cafe on a recent summer’s weekday.

A diverse lunch menu

Some, like me, were ordering mid-afternoon soup, sandwiches and coffee. But it seemed pretty much everyone was also getting a wedge of peach-apple or strawberry rhubarb to stay or to go. Others were loading up on whole pies, fresh or frozen, of blackberry-apple or ginger-pear.

But it’s the pie menu that captures most people’s attention

I mean who’s going to compete with $22 for a whole, frozen pie? Or a deep-dish pie that packs in nine cups of fruit?

It’s enough to make you jump in your car and drive a long, long way north and west.

The egg salad sandwich is darned good, too

The Miners’ Cafe
619 Miners Crescent, Nordegg, Alberta
Daily, mid-morning till 4:30 or 6:30 pm
403-322-0314