Following a successful application to the City of Toronto’s Main Street Innovation Fund in December 2023, marketcityTO was granted $50,000 to support the {I Love Toronto Markets} campaign during Toronto Public Markets Week, June 16-22, 2024. This enabled marketcityTO to connect markets and small businesses at the neighbourhood level.

marketcityTO has been championing for recognition of Public Markets since the COVID-19 pandemic.

This tireless effort has resulted in the City of Toronto formally proclaiming Public Markets Week for the first time in June 2023. Public Markets Week 2024 was also declared by the City of Toronto, and the {I Love Toronto Markets} campaign built upon the City’s commitment to increase the visibility and support of its 130+ public markets.

Our goal through this project was to increase education and awareness about Public Markets and their role in city building. At the same time, strengthening the connection between public markets, business improvement areas (BIAs), small businesses, and the neighbourhoods in which they operate.

marketcityTO created three interconnected programs to support this:

• A custom {I Love Toronto Markets} digital tool kit and campaign.

• An interactive city-wide map of Toronto’s Public Markets.

• A series of neighbourhood tours linking public markets, local businesses and main streets.

  
  

For the campaign, we collaborated with Yuliya Tsoy to create the {I Love Toronto Markets} branding and design elements, then developed a digital promotional tool kit for BIAs, market managers, operators and vendors to post and engage with during Public Markets Week 2024 and in future years. We Coordinated the {I Love Toronto Markets} digital campaign over marketictyTO channels in collaboration with five key partners, and reached 25,700+ people through Instagram with 64% being new to the marketcityTO audience.

A major asset to visualize all of the public markets in Toronto is our interactive map.

We developed an in-depth public markets survey that was distributed to 120+ markets for up-to-date information, which helped us create the only comprehensive city of Toronto Public Markets interactive map with eight custom categories and design elements to help market goers find new locations to visit.

Public Markets Week 2024 saw the co-creation of five new neighbourhood interactive tours connecting markets with their main streets:

• Afro-Caribbean Farmers’ Market & Little Jamaica Freedom Through Food Tour!

• Eglinton Way Farmers' Market & Neighbourhood Walking Tour

• Scarborough Farmers’ Market & Neighbourhood Culinary Adventure!

• St. Lawrence Market & Old Town

• Wandering to Withrow: History Bites and Tasty Treats

Tours were 90% sold out, with 135 registered attendees. 75% of surveyed attendees rated the tour a 5/5 experience!

We're grateful for the collaboration with Howard Tam of Eat More Scarborough to offer custom training and mentorship on how to develop and delivery a great culinary/neighbourhood tour. 85% of surveyed attendees indicated that this tour gave them a new perspective on the role of neighbourhood markets in Toronto.

“This tour has given me a new perspective because I did not realize how much the market has changed overtime, how dependent people are on the market, and how Toronto's development as a city has been influenced by the market too.” - Neighbourhood Market Tour Attendee

“We made connections with residents from nearby areas of Midtown. One of the attendees was part of a nearby residents' association. We also got to connect with other market managers in our local area, so those lines of communication have now been opened and will be maintained.” - Market Manager

marketcityTO representatives hosted a pop-up booth at six markets during Public Markets Week. This was a great opportunity to engage one-on-one with not only market managers and vendors but also marketgoers who were keen to learn more about Toronto’s other public markets.

Miigwetch / tiawenhk / gracias / meci / thank you to the Main Street Innovation Fund and all our partners for supporting marketcityTO and Public Markets Week 2024 to increase awareness of Toronto Public Markets by:

• Helping residents and visitors find them through a comprehensive map;

• increasing connections between markets and the neighbourhood(s) they serve;

• encouraging residents and visitor to explore all markets and the surrounding areas through tours;

• strengthening the connection between market operators by delivering a shared activity (the toolkit);

• engaging the broader market network to collaborate; and

• building programs and tools we can use in the future and expand to other markets and neighbourhoods.

We can't wait for Public Markets Week 2025! Got ideas on how to celebrate?

Contact us at mqueirolo@marketcityto.org

Check the best Public Markets Week 2024 images & videos.