Projects + Initiatives

Market CityTO is on a mission to make Toronto's soul visible through its neighbourhood markets.

We work with Toronto’s intrepid market managers, vendors, city staff, researchers and policy-makers to activate the power of public markets.

11th International Public Markets Conference

Project for Public Spaces is excited to announce that Toronto will host the 11th International Public Markets Conference June 8-10, 2023.

Co-hosts: City of Toronto, St. Lawrence Market, and Market City TO. 

Check our latest blog about Toronto's approach to the conference, and why it's different.

It is all about having a project that allows us to work together and build stronger relationships. That’s why we felt bringing the 11th International Public Market Conference to our city was so important!

What we are doing is not simply a conference! It is a network creation process by which we develop relationships and “small networks” to help us get to where we want to go and build the

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Scarborough Neighbourhood Fresh Food Markets | 2022 Pilot

Prototyping a new market model better suited to the urban context by adding two interconnected programs, Ontario Fresh Food Table & ScarbTO Mrkt Bucks, that enable more residents and entrepreneurs to participate and benefit.

Lead partner: Jennifer Forde, Scarborough and Courtyard Farmers' Market
Supported by: City of Toronto Economic Development Division and Golden Horseshoe Food and Farming Alliance. 

Read the latest blog from the Golden Horseshoe Food and Farming Alliance talking about our 2023 pilot!

A neighbourhood approach to increasing access to local food and Economic Opportunities.

Over the last year, the Golden Horseshoe Food and Farming Alliance has been among many partners supporting a Scarborough Neighbourhood Fresh Food Markets Pilot, led by Marina Queirolo of Market City TO, an

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ScarbTO Mrkt Bucks

An alternative exchange system benefitting residents’ income, food entrepreneurs, social inclusion, community health, prosperity, and resilience, belonging, and access to southern Ontario produce while keeping dollars circulating among Toronto and Ontario entrepreneurs.

Partners: Vision Quest/Red Onion Events, Golden Horseshoe Food & Farming Alliance, Feed Scarborough, Malvern Community Health Centre, Rising Sun Food Drive, St. Andrews Church - Scarborough, U. of T Scarborough Feeding City Lab. 

Updates coming soon
No updates for this project yet. Stay tuned!
Co-create Market City TO

Collaborate with market managers, vendors and city staff to:

  • Refine the Market City TO strategy, Governance and business model.
  • Ensure the organization serves stakeholders' needs while increasing their ownership and participation. 
Building a network one project at a time

When a conference is not simply a conference! 

It is a network creation process by which we develop relationships and “small networks” to help us get to where we want to go and build the public market ecosystem our city needs.

When Toronto applied and won the bid to host the 11th International Public Market Conference, it was always about how we leveraged this milestone momen

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Making Public Markets visible!

Toronto has more than 130 Public Markets (PM) built from the ground up by strong community champions or key anchor organizations. They embrace diverse models, audiences and mandates that respond to residents’ needs and often deliver programs that address municipal gaps. 

Though long-treasured by city-dwellers as a way to connect to local growers and urban entrepreneurs while surrounded by a festive atmosphere, markets provide entertainment and access to arts, crafts, street food and fresh produce.  Still, the widespread benefits of public markets need to be discovered and appreciated. As such, many public markets exist on the margins.

From the St. Lawrence market, the only municipal market, to seasonal Farmers and Flea markets, to semi-permanent markets like Market 707 or the Ontario Food Terminal (Canada’s only wholesale market), these public markets are drivers of our local economy. These forms of retail are part of the mid-size distribution infrastructure that enables regional supply, inclusive and diverse economies and promote social connections at a neighbourhood level.

 

Filling in the Missing Middle for Food Retailing

Thanks, Glen Miller and Spacing Magazine, for writing about this important issue! We look forward to further collaboration and helping more planners, decision-makers and residents understand why we must support public markets.

Photo: Farmers Market at the Ontario Food Terminal, 400 farmers market tenants sell directly, and another 1,500 Ontario farmers sell indirectly through warehouse

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1st Toronto Interactive Public Market Map

The International Market Cities Program began working with the Toronto Food Policy Council and Marina Queirolo, lead for the public market initiative, along with the two other pilot project cities: Pittsburgh, PA and Seattle, WA, in March 2020, at the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis. 

In light of the pandemic, the Toronto partners' top priority was advocating for farmers' markets an

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Supporting partnership from the Golden Horseshoe Food and Farming Alliance and Hypenotic.

International partners with Project For Public Spaces.

Project partners with City of Toronto, St. Lawrence Market, Greenbelt Markets, Scarborough Farmers Market, and Canadian Farmers Market.

We respectfully acknowledge that the work stewarded by Market City TO takes place on many Indigenous nations' traditional territories.

Tkarón:to has been cared for by the Anishinabeg Nation, the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, the Huron-Wendat, and its current treaty holders, the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation. Now home to many First Nation, Inuit, and Métis communities, this territory is subject to the Dish With One Spoon Wampum Belt Covenant, an agreement to share and care for the land and resources in the Great Lakes region peacefully. The dish with one spoon reminds people we only have one dish, one mother earth we can take from. Therefore, we should take only what we need, leave something for others, and keep the dish clean. It also demonstrates our collective responsibility to share equally. This area had been a gathering place for Indigenous peoples for centuries before colonization; they hosted the original markets.

The relationship between food, culture, land, and communities informs our work on Toronto public markets. As we work towards collectively reimagining Toronto as a market city and mobilize the partnerships to make it happen, we prioritize finding ways to support Indigenous food sovereignty in their territory. We respectfully acknowledge that the work steward by Market City TO is on traditional territory of many Indigenous Nations.