Market mania

Firing up local FLAVOURS

FROM FIRE HALL TO ARTISAN FOOD MARKET

By Ellen Ashton-Haiste

To maintain fire hall history, there are firefighter-related murals on the exterior doors and the interior features tables with fire hydrant bases and re-purposed fire extinguishers as ceiling lights. Ladders and hoses and a large wooden market clock will enhance the décor.

Port Stanley opens a ASnew state-of-the-art fire station, its former fire hall is getting a new life as an artisan food marketplace. The Fire Hall Market is the brainchild of two local couples who saw potential in the Joseph Street building that housed the village’s firefighters and equipment for more than four decades.

The idea is to offer a variety of local specialty foods, says Lorraine McElroy, partner with her husband Gerry Hensels and friends Angela and Dale Homewood. “We don’t want to step on anybody’s toes. It’s about bringing in stuff that we don’t have.”

Vendors currently include St. Thomas’s Smokin’ Caboose, with barbecued smoked meats, local wholesaler Gifford’s Produce, artisanal cheeses from Tillsonburg’s Two Girls and a Cheese Shop and Port’s own The Edible Journey offering vegan and gluten-free products. Also onboard are the DL Village Juicery, Yogi Bakers and Uncommon Blooms, a new florist business. A butcher and fishmonger are also being sought.

The plan is to start with 10 food booths and a few mobile carts that may be rented daily to attract local crafters.

The partners are committed to honouring the building’s fire hall history. Murals on the exterior doors, depicting near lifesize firemen and trucks, remain. The timber frame interior feature tables with fire hydrant bases and re-purposed fire extinguishers as ceiling lights. Ladders and hoses and a large wooden market clock enhance the décor.

An upper floor, formerly used as a training centre for the firefighters, is also being renovated as a two-bedroom executive apartment, to be rented annually. It will include an outdoor terrace, overlooking Kettle Creek and Port Stanley’s Main Street and historic lift bridge. “It will all be high-end, down to the appliances and finishes,” McElroy says. “It’s really going to be beautiful.”

The partners launched the market with a soft opening in early May and a grand opening is planned on the May 24 weekend. It will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. seven days a week during the summer. 