“It’s been steady,” Parents Council chair and 14th annual holiday market organizer Ali Williams said Saturday morning as Prince Charles Public School was full of holiday shoppers, vendors and people making merry. “It’ll probably pick up once the (Sydenham) Santa Claus Parade is over.”

It did pick up indeed.

For the past seven years, the school and the Frontenac Farmers Market have combined to put on the annual sale.

For the school, it represents a major fundraiser.

“We’ve raised money for sports equipment, bike desks for kids who have high energy so they can bike while doing their school work, school trips, culinary class, wood working and musical gear,” Williams said. “It all comes back to the school.”

Williams said she has a lot of help putting this on but Tab Morton said it’s mostly Williams.

“Ali is the vast majority of this,” Morton said. “We play a very small support role.

“She’s the main driver.”

“She’s lying,” said Williams.

Well, there were a lot of teachers, parents and such that seemed to be busy. Heck, they even had two Santa Claus’s even though both of them tried to convince the reporter they were actually the same person in two different places at once.

The annual event is usually the first full weekend in December, but they decided to try it a weekend earlier this year to avoid conflicts with other events.

“But it seems no matter when we have it, there’s something else going on,” Williams said. “But it is nice having the partnership with the Frontenac Farmers Market.”

David Bates, the self-admitted “Poobah” of the market at the moment, agreed.

“There’s parking way up the streets,” he said. “We’re hearing from some of our cornerstone vendors that we’re setting records.”

He said the holiday market bodes well for the future of the Frontenac Farmers Market and they may be looking at moving to McMullen Park for next season.

The Sharbot Lake Property Owners Association is in its 46th year of operations, President Ken Waller said as he opened Saturday’s meeting at the Sharbot Lake Legion.

“We started in 1973,” he said. “And this has been one of our busiest years.”

Waller noted last September’s microburst that spread trees all over Shibley Road and Polar Bear Lane, the ongoing water testing program, four new loon nesting platforms (one of which loons actually nested on), as well as 33 entries in the annual photo contest.

Vice-president Guy McLeod gave an update on the new “data loggers” in operation to aid in the collection of information in and around the lake.

“The loggers collect the data and it gets downloaded to my computer,” he said. “One day, at nine feet down, it was 80 degrees.

Environmental issues coordinator Barbara Fradkin reported that the loon count this year is at 30, with 11 chicks, two of which were in the west basin.

“They (the loons) turned down all of our (nesting) platforms except for one,” she said.

Mayor Frances Smith addressed a number of Township issues on the minds of association members.

“We’re looking for fire department recruits,” she said. “Especially if they are under age 64 and available during the day.”

She noted that there are open houses Aug. 4, 14 and 21 regarding the revision of the Township Official Plan.

She said septic reinspection has already begun on Eagle Lake and Crow Lake.

“The cost is $100, payable to the Township,” she said.

On recycling, Smith said: “Used to be we got a reasonable price for it. Now we have to pay to get it hauled away.”

She urged residents to use the library, support the Farmers Market and go to the Parham Fair.

Firefighter Ryan Conboy gave a talk on the importance of smoke alarms and keeping them up to date.

He expressed disappointment at the “lack of compliance” evident during the department’s recent door-to-door campaign.

“The chief is seriously considering issuing some fines to get the message across,” he said, noting that’s law for every building to have smoke alarms on every floor. Carbon monoxide sensors are mandatory on each floor of any building that has a combustion system burning either fossil fuels or wood and if there is an attached garage.

The winners of the photo contest were: 1st — Helen VandeSande; 2nd — Bryan Hay; 3rd — Guy McLeod

There were “a few changes over the winter” to the Frontenac Farmers Market and as such, interim manager Mark Revelle didn’t have many plans to reveal concerning any special events this summer.

“We’re having a meeting after the market to elect a president, treasurer and manager,” he said. “We’re still planning on going through Thanksgiving.

“Hopefully, we’ll all have fun and make things grow.”

The market runs Saturdays from 9am to 2pm through Thanksgiving and features local produce, meats, baked goods and crafts.

“It’s been surprisingly busy,” Revelle said of the opening day. “That’s mainly because of the sun.”

One new vendor this year was enjoying meeting people on a sunny Saturday.

Bailey Gurr said she and her husband have been operating a sugar bush on Buck Lake near Westport for some time now and things have been growing.

“We started out as a hobby, my husband has been tapping trees since he was 12 and in 2018, we had our first year producing more than 400 litres of syrup,” she said. “We don’t have enough friends and family to give it all away to.

“So, we’re just getting started in business.

“We have syrup and candy and we’ll have maple butter when I make some.”

With the Victoria Day weekend comes the opening of local farmers markets and Saturday at Oso Beach in Sharbot Lake was no exception.

“It’s been a cold, wet spring and vendors have been working hard to create options,” said Sue Cole, spokesperson for the Sharbot Lake Farmers Market. “But we do have plant starts, preserves and dried goods.

“And the earliest season greens are just starting to come in.”

They’ve added a couple of farm vendors this year, she said.

“We’re looking forward to having mushrooms and cut flowers,” she said. “And also some fresh soaps.”

She said they plan to have breakfast starting in June as well as a lot of other events, but they’re just getting started in that area as they’re a vendor-run market as opposed to having an administrator.

“We’re still figuring that out,” she said. “But follow our Facebook page for future events.”

One thing they would like to have is more music. They have a few days booked but they’d like to see some buskers around.

“We’re hoping to have more music,” she said. “There is power available, so bring your own equipment and put down a hat.”

She said musicians interested in playing at the market should email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to book a Saturday.

The Sharbot Lake Farmers Market is open Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. through Thanksgiving at Oso Beach in Sharbot Lake.

At home and on their royal yacht, the Royal Family eat simply cooked but elegant food from the Prince’s Highgrove/Duchy Home Farm. When she travels, the Queen has her own water brought with her because she can’t afford to get sick. Looks like the good food and water work for her!

Peter and I often say we eat like royalty, thanks to the wonderful food our local farmers and our garden provide. (Buying only local meat isn’t hard at all, and isn’t more expensive.)

Burger night at our house means about 4 oz. per person of local grassfed ground beef, costing $2, with oven fries (potatoes from our garden or organic ones from Memorial Farmers Market at $.50 per person). Our veggie could be green beans or peas frozen from our garden or organically home-grown sprouts in a salad with grated carrot and celery. Sprouts and winter veggies like carrots are also available at Memorial Farmers Market in Kingston, open Sundays all year round. The cost per person for the salad with homemade dressing is estimated at $1.50. Add a glass of organic wine from Sharbot Lake LCBO for $1.50 and a glass of sweet, pure well water, bringing your grand total for this princely meal to $5.50 per person. Compare this unbeatable grassfed burger dinner (including salad and wine) with McSomething’s quarter-pound burger with cheese, medium fries and drink at $5.79.

Added benefits of cooking your own locally grown meal are the delicious smells that waft through the house from the oven fries baked in organic olive oil and the grassfed burgers cooked in a cast iron frying pan with real, organic butter – not to mention the health benefits of more vitamins and minerals in the meat and a healthier ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids, with no hormones, antibiotics, or pesticides. Most truly local organically grown vegetables (according to solid independent studies and contrary to some industry-driven reports) have higher nutritional value, taste better, and haven’t been grown with pesticides.

If you want to try eating like Royalty on the cheap, our Sharbot Lake Farmers Market vendors offer ground beef and other beef cuts, pork, chicken, lamb, and sometimes turkey. Their meats are all government inspected and frozen. You can contact our meat vendors outside of the market season at Tryon Farm - beef, pork, chicken, turkey (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) and Maple-Lim Farm – lamb, preserves (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.). Memorial Farmers Market in Kingston offers sprouts, winter veggies, meats, cooked lunches, etc. and is open Sundays year round (memorialcentrefarmersmarket.ca). Verona’s Frontenac Farmers Market vendors are listed on their website (frontenacfarmersmarket.ca).

Bon appétit!

Sharbot Lake Farmers Market is looking for new vendors and volunteers. Interested? Join us at the potluck lunch vendors’ meeting, noon, Jan 27, Sharbot Lake United Church, or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Market supporters also most welcome! Please bring a dish to share.

Prince Charles Public School in Verona was a busy place Saturday as the Frontenac Farmers Market combined with the School Advisory Council for a fundraiser that packed the place.

There were 38 vendors filling the hallways and library and 22 of the usual suspects from the summer market arranged in the gym.

There was even a breakfast with Santa and a mom-to-mom sale, where the community donated clothes with proceeds going back to the school and any leftovers going to the church.

“That did pretty good,” said SAC chair Alison Williams. “It’s a good fundraiser for the school and we also raised funds from table sales to vendors.”

“It was a huge group effort and the school benefits so we’ll definitely be doing it again,” said SAC treasurer Tina McHale.

Laura Simmons, who’s taking over the helm of the Frontenac Farmers Market from Debbie Harris for 2018 said “we’ve had a good turnout so far and we still have an hour to go.

“This is our last sale of 2017.”

Simmons said the first 2018 date of the market is “not certain yet but I expect it will be in mid- to late-May and continue through the end of October.

“We have a couple of new vendors coming on in 2018 and they’ll add some variety.”

One of the more popular programs the Kingston Frontenac Public Library has been bringing to area events in the past few years has been its StoryWalk program. And last Saturday, they brought the most recent installment to the Sharbot Lake Farmers Market.
“The story is Monkey and Me by Emily Gravett,” said KFPL programmer Margi McKay. “Like all our StoryWalks, you follow the signs and each sign has a page of the book and an activity for kids and their parents to do.
“This story has 13 pages/signs.”

For example, at one sign, participants are invited to measure themselves to see if they are as tall as an emperor penguin. At another, they are asked to hop to the next sign like a kangaroo.
“By the time you’re done, you’ve read a book and you get a button,” she said. “Then kids are invited to sit on the blanket and read other books.”
It’s designed to be fun, of course, but there’s a method in this madness.

“Any time we can get books in the minds and heads of kids, we like to take that opportunity,” McKay said. “If parents aren’t buying books, we like to put them in the kids’ minds.
“We like to add elements of fun — as a way to engage young minds.”

And it also gives them a chance to talk about the various programs and services the library offers.
“We’re always expanding our programs and have a wide variety for both kids and adults,” she said.

For example, she said, they have a labs program for the sciences and one aimed at the younger crowd called STEM Punks (STEM standing for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) as well as Books for Babies, Rhythm and Rhyme and Play and Learn.
More information on the KFPL programs is available on their website.

The action was fast and furious at the third annual Sharbot Lake Farmers Market Butter Tart Challenge but when the smoke cleared, former Parham and now Sydenham resident Shelley Brooks took home the top prize of $50 for her Almost Famous Tart.

Kim Perry of Food Less Travelled won second (a big jug of Conboy maple syrup) for her Salt of the Earth and third place (a rolling pin) went to Pat Jamison for her Mom’s Tart.
“I like trying new recipes,” said Brooks, a 40-veteran of baking contests including the Kingston Fair. “This year, I used a convection oven and had only two tasters.
“It was lard over shortening for this recipe.”

Brooks said she honed her baking skills by trying to beat her mother at the Parham Fair. The family baking rivalry continues with her sisters and daughter, Haley Rose.
“I did not expect to win this year because there are so many good bakers here,” she said.

Brooks said she’ll be back to defend her title and will probably have more time since she has just retired as a counsellor at Sydenham High School.
“I was all prepared for a lovely bottle of wine on the deck for the first day of school this year,” she said. “But they called me back so it will have to wait.”
This year’s judges were Erik Zierer, Martha Merrill, Thade Maklin, Sean Dineen and Marion Ratzinger.

There’s a buzz in town and it’s at the Sharbot Lake Farmers Market on Saturday mornings. There are yummy treats, local produce of all kinds, fascinating products, Shiatsu massage, and the best part, you can meet up with our local providers and friends. If you didn’t get a chance to see or take part in this demonstration, be sure to check them out the next time they come to the market. Here’s what’s coming up soon..... September 2 – The 3rd Annual Butter Tart Challenge On Saturday, September 2, judging for the 3rd Annual Butter Tart Challenge takes place 10:30 am at the Bandshell, Sharbot Lake Beach.

You won’t want to miss this event. Andrea Duggan, a well-known local cooking instructor and former restaurant owner, joins the market again as coordinator and host of this entertaining and colourful event. Do you have a cherished family recipe for butter tarts? See the following details to enter the contest. You may prefer to taste the samples that will be passed around to see if you agree with the judges’ decisions. If you are lucky, you may even be able to buy a dozen to take home if they last long enough. The judges are community members of different ages and positions and their main qualification is that they really love butter tarts. Andrea Duggan and Mary de Bassecourt were inspired to start this annual contest in 2015 when reading about other butter tart festivals in Ontario.

This year, we are encouraging bakers in the community to feel free to come to the market on September 2nd to try their hand at not only competing but also to bring some of their tarts to sell as our market customers are eager to buy them! Contact the market at the email below for more info if you are interested. The winner will be awarded a prize of $50 and the title of “Best Butter Tart in Frontenac County”. Deadline for entry is September 1st. Think of a creative title for your tart. You can leave your 6 tarts for judging between 9:00 am -10:15 am at the bandshell. Winners will be announced at 11:30 am. Register your entry with “Butter Tart” as the subject line in an email to slfminformation@ gmail.com. See contest rules at sharbotlakefarmersmarket. ca or at facebook. com/sharbotlakefarmersmarket. Also on September 2, a Market gift certificate will be awarded to the winner of the draw for liking the Sharbot Lake Farmers Market on Facebook and sharing it on their page.

The Sharbot Lake Farmers Market returned to the beach in Sharbot Lake last Saturday and despite some at times threatening weather, enjoyed one of its better openings ever.

“I think this was my best opening day and probably one of my best ever days,” said long-time market veteran Darlene Conboy of Conboy’s Maple Syrup.

“It’s a good market, a lovely venue,” said Isaac Hale of Learning Curve Gardens.

“Actually it was pretty good,” said Ken Howes. “I sold a number of chairs and some asparagus.”

“We’ll be here for the summer,” said Cari Tryon of Tryon Farm.

New market co-ordinator Dean Wedden said they have 15 full-time vendors this year, several of whom are new.

“I have no idea how many people we’ve had through here today, I’ve been too busy with a number of things to count people,” he said. “But it’s a beautiful day with no flies and most people seem to be happy about things.”

Conboy said she’d counted 167 visitors but “I probably missed quite a few when I was dealing with customers.”

As has been the custom, the Market will feature theme and special guest days throughout the summer until the last market of the year on Oct. 7.

Planned for this year are:

• June 3: Blue Skies Fiddle Orchestra
• June 10: Kingston-Frontenac Public Library puppet show
• June 24: Frontenac Blades tomahawk/knife throwing
• July 1: Canada Day Parade
• July 15: Burger Day showcasing local vendors meats
• August 3: Maple Day
• August 19: Frontenac Blades
• September 2: Butter Tart Challenge
• September 9: Five Woodwind Quintet and KFPL story walk

There’s also a craft day for kids in the works.