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History of Carrot Fest in Bradford West Gwillimbury
Kristi, Joe, and Frank
Historically, Carrot Fest began as an open air market every weekend in the summer months. The HEART Committee was developed to oversee the amalgamation of Bradford and West Gwillimbury. Part of this committee’s mandate was tourism, economic development, and downtown revitalization. To assist in the rebirth of Bradford’s downtown core, this committee developed the open air market. This event took place on the sidewalks of downtown Bradford every Saturday in the summer. Local farmers and vendors displayed their products along the sidewalks in an attempt to bring life to the lack luster downtown core.
After a couple years, the Open Air Market began to loose its appeal to the community, and was then reshaped into Super Saturday in 1995, which took place on Labour Day Weekend every year. Super Saturday use the same format as the Open Air Market; having vendors sell their products on the sidewalks of downtown Bradford. This one day event was moderately successful, but needed something else to appeal to the community.
History
The origin of Carrot Fest was the Open Air Market, where local farmers and merchants came together on the sidewalks of downtown Bradford, sharing their crops and products with the community. This is where people come together, exchanging ideas and experiences on agriculture. By bringing the farming community into the downtown core, this event made the Town feel smaller, in turn having the farmers and residents share their experiences.
Bradford has always been a market garden for the Ontario and foreign markets, producing carrots and onions, as well as many other vegetables. The 7000 acre area has become known as the heart of Canada’s Vegetable Industry. The region is the larges area of organic (muck) soil, developed for agriculture in the province and one of the most intensive areas of agricultural production in the country. This has been known to the residents of the Marsh and Bradford, but it took a few dedicated volunteers to see the need to celebrate this story.
The theme of Carrot Fest has always been celebrating the agricultural heritage of the Holland Marsh and of the local community. The black organic soil makes this area one of Canada’s top carrot producing regions, and Bradford West Gwillimbury, the Heart of Ontario’s Vegetable Industry. It is celebrating how Bradford came to be a town, from a small farming community that Carrot Fest was born. Through this history the Town has created an event that looks to the future while pride fully acknowledging the past.
The Story
In the late 90’s Bradford was in need of a celebration of community pride. The Salad Festival was a big hit in the 70’s and 80’s but had some internal volunteer issues and disappeared from the landscape of Bradford’s festivals. The HEART Committee members traveled across Southern Ontario visiting a number of different festivals that were unique to that region, such as the Alliston Potato Festival, Tomato and Strawberry Festivals. The HEART Committee then began to do some background research on these festivals. They found that the towns produced very little of the national production of namesake of their festival. As a result, the Committee discovered that Bradford produces over 70% of the national production of carrots, and decided to rename Super Saturday to Carrot Fest. This obvious and well deserved title changed the face of Carrot Fest, giving Bradford an annual community festival.
In 1998, Carrot Fest came with a new look to this Labour Day Weekend Festival. The Committee decided to have a 3 day festival, and close the streets of the downtown core, to celebrate their agricultural heritage while adding more events. They combined the existing vendors market and added children’s entertainers, contests, a main stage, bands, fundraisers, and children’s amusement bouncers. They had very few sponsors and a limited budget approved by the Town Council.
As the years came, the Committee began to take on different events; Communities in Bloom, the Millennium Clock Tower, etc. As the core committee group began to take on new endeavors, Carrot Fest began to loose its luster due to lack of volunteer support. As the Committee began to spread itself thinly, the event suffered and began to loose community support and attendance. In an attempt to increase attendance the Committee decided to make Carrot Fest a one day event on the 3rd Saturday in August.
Recognizing that the undertaking of planning Carrot Fest was too much for one small committee to coordinate, the town intervened. In the summer of 2005, Town Council and the Committee decided that Carrot Fest should be developed by the Town’s Leisure Services Department. In that first year, the event’s attendance increased by 1000 people. In 2006, over 11, 000 people attended Carrot Fest coming from as far as Chicago and England. Last summer Carrot Fest doubled their attendance by not only building upon our current ideas but branching out to increase the number of creative and exciting activities for all residents.
Carrot Fest is a way to celebrate what makes Bradford unique from surrounding townships while welcoming and educating our neighbours on what makes the community so special. Through the sharing of the Marsh and its resources the Town has established an event that appeals to both long-time and new residents. What started as a merchant-based community has now developed into a historical event involving not only the residents, but people from the global community.
For the last eleven years, the Carrot Fest Committee and the Town of Bradford West Gwillimbury have successfully produced a well attended event. From 2006 to 2010, the attendance of the festival quadrupled; and in the process, elevating the image of Bradford West Gwillimbury to rest of the province. Through the work of a few very committed volunteers (who still continue to assist with the success of the event) the Leisure Services Department has been able to put on an increasingly successful day.
After a couple years, the Open Air Market began to loose its appeal to the community, and was then reshaped into Super Saturday in 1995, which took place on Labour Day Weekend every year. Super Saturday use the same format as the Open Air Market; having vendors sell their products on the sidewalks of downtown Bradford. This one day event was moderately successful, but needed something else to appeal to the community.
History
The origin of Carrot Fest was the Open Air Market, where local farmers and merchants came together on the sidewalks of downtown Bradford, sharing their crops and products with the community. This is where people come together, exchanging ideas and experiences on agriculture. By bringing the farming community into the downtown core, this event made the Town feel smaller, in turn having the farmers and residents share their experiences.
Bradford has always been a market garden for the Ontario and foreign markets, producing carrots and onions, as well as many other vegetables. The 7000 acre area has become known as the heart of Canada’s Vegetable Industry. The region is the larges area of organic (muck) soil, developed for agriculture in the province and one of the most intensive areas of agricultural production in the country. This has been known to the residents of the Marsh and Bradford, but it took a few dedicated volunteers to see the need to celebrate this story.
The theme of Carrot Fest has always been celebrating the agricultural heritage of the Holland Marsh and of the local community. The black organic soil makes this area one of Canada’s top carrot producing regions, and Bradford West Gwillimbury, the Heart of Ontario’s Vegetable Industry. It is celebrating how Bradford came to be a town, from a small farming community that Carrot Fest was born. Through this history the Town has created an event that looks to the future while pride fully acknowledging the past.
The Story
In the late 90’s Bradford was in need of a celebration of community pride. The Salad Festival was a big hit in the 70’s and 80’s but had some internal volunteer issues and disappeared from the landscape of Bradford’s festivals. The HEART Committee members traveled across Southern Ontario visiting a number of different festivals that were unique to that region, such as the Alliston Potato Festival, Tomato and Strawberry Festivals. The HEART Committee then began to do some background research on these festivals. They found that the towns produced very little of the national production of namesake of their festival. As a result, the Committee discovered that Bradford produces over 70% of the national production of carrots, and decided to rename Super Saturday to Carrot Fest. This obvious and well deserved title changed the face of Carrot Fest, giving Bradford an annual community festival.
In 1998, Carrot Fest came with a new look to this Labour Day Weekend Festival. The Committee decided to have a 3 day festival, and close the streets of the downtown core, to celebrate their agricultural heritage while adding more events. They combined the existing vendors market and added children’s entertainers, contests, a main stage, bands, fundraisers, and children’s amusement bouncers. They had very few sponsors and a limited budget approved by the Town Council.
As the years came, the Committee began to take on different events; Communities in Bloom, the Millennium Clock Tower, etc. As the core committee group began to take on new endeavors, Carrot Fest began to loose its luster due to lack of volunteer support. As the Committee began to spread itself thinly, the event suffered and began to loose community support and attendance. In an attempt to increase attendance the Committee decided to make Carrot Fest a one day event on the 3rd Saturday in August.
Recognizing that the undertaking of planning Carrot Fest was too much for one small committee to coordinate, the town intervened. In the summer of 2005, Town Council and the Committee decided that Carrot Fest should be developed by the Town’s Leisure Services Department. In that first year, the event’s attendance increased by 1000 people. In 2006, over 11, 000 people attended Carrot Fest coming from as far as Chicago and England. Last summer Carrot Fest doubled their attendance by not only building upon our current ideas but branching out to increase the number of creative and exciting activities for all residents.
Carrot Fest is a way to celebrate what makes Bradford unique from surrounding townships while welcoming and educating our neighbours on what makes the community so special. Through the sharing of the Marsh and its resources the Town has established an event that appeals to both long-time and new residents. What started as a merchant-based community has now developed into a historical event involving not only the residents, but people from the global community.
For the last eleven years, the Carrot Fest Committee and the Town of Bradford West Gwillimbury have successfully produced a well attended event. From 2006 to 2010, the attendance of the festival quadrupled; and in the process, elevating the image of Bradford West Gwillimbury to rest of the province. Through the work of a few very committed volunteers (who still continue to assist with the success of the event) the Leisure Services Department has been able to put on an increasingly successful day.
