This year the Rossland Mountain Market held during Rossland Winter Carnival will be bigger than ever.
There will be 40 vendors on three different floors of the Miners’ Hall on Saturday, Jan. 27 from 1 to 5 p.m., selling a huge variety of goods.
“This year something that’s really actually quite awesome is that we’ve been given access to the entire Miners’ Hall, so we’ve been able to expand the market from about 24, 25 vendors in the main hall to 40 vendors,” explains Melissa Gresley-Jones, market manager.
She says there will be approximately a 50-50 split between food, farm and garden vendors and artisan vendors.
“Our food, farm and garden, we’ve got some of our regulars … who are with us year round,” says Gresley-Jones.
Those vendors include Kootenay Natural Meats, Earthy Organics, Old Mill Farm from Crescent Valley, and Forest Farms from Salmo.
Food products on offer will include produce, canned goods, baked goods, gluten-free baked goods, cheese and honey, and there will be three distilleries among the vendors.
“For artisans, we have pottery, jewelry. We have natural cleaning products. We’ve got wooden products like wooden kitchen wear,” says Gresley-Jones.
There will also be wooden shelving, art and clothing for kids and adults.
“Basically [we] have everything,” says Gresley-Jones.
Fuel and Low Key Bakery are partnering to offer a hot lunch of picket pockets, soup and donuts.
“Just delicious food,” says Gresley-Jones.
There will also be two musicians performing during the market.
Over the summer, the Rossland Mountain Market Society (RMMS) also started selling Market Dollars using Square, which allows market goers to buy “cash” to use at vendor stalls that can’t take credit cards. That option will be offered at the Miners’ Hall as well.
All vendor spots for the market have been booked, but anyone interested in adding their name to the wait list can contact Melissa Gresley-Jones at rosslandmountainmarket@gmail.com or through Facebook at facebook.com/rosslandmountainmarket. She says the market often has last minute cancellations.
The RMMS also has two more indoor markets planned at the Miners’ Hall this winter.
The first is Saturday, Feb. 24 and the second is Saturday, Mar. 24. Both run from 1 to 5 p.m.
In April and May, the market will be back outside on Queen Street, but there will still be only one Saturday market a month.
The April market is on the 21st and the May market is on the 12th.
The regular market season — Thursdays on Queen Street — begins in June.