Every organization has a volunteer list. Ours has setup and teardown, the market team table, the kids table, photography, writing, social media, and the board. Those are real roles, and we genuinely need people for all of them.
But this post is not really about those roles.
This post is for the person who read that list and felt a small, quiet nothing. Not disinterest — something more like: I do not see myself there. Maybe you have a skill that does not fit neatly into any of those categories. Maybe you have noticed something about the market that could be better and wondered why no one has done anything about it. Maybe you are not sure what you have to offer but you know you want to be involved in something real.
We are talking to you.
The market is what its people make it
The Spryfield Farmers Market has been running since 2016. In that time, it has survived a venue change, a pandemic, and everything else a scrappy neighbourhood market tends to collect. It has grown and changed in ways that the people who started it could not have fully predicted — because those changes came from people who arrived with something we did not know we needed.
A person who knew how to build a database and turned scattered records into something usable. Someone who noticed the signage was confusing and fixed it. A volunteer who turned out to be exactly the right person to welcome newcomers, to make the market feel like a place where you belonged even on your first day.
None of those roles were on a list. They existed because someone showed up and brought them into being.
What we are actually asking
We are not asking you to fit yourself into a predetermined shape. We are asking you to come and tell us what you are good at, what you notice, what you are curious about. We will figure out the rest together.
Some things we genuinely do not know we need yet. Some gaps are invisible to us because we are too close to them. Some of the best contributions to this market have come from people who asked: has anyone thought about doing it this way?
If that sounds like you — if you are the person who sees the thing that isn't working and wants to fix it, or who has a skill that feels oddly specific but might be exactly right — please come talk to us.
The door is open
The best place to start is our Pre-Season Community Gathering on May 3, from 1:00 to 3:00 pm at Emmanuel Church Parish Hall, 322 Herring Cove Road in Spryfield. The hall is behind the church. It is a casual afternoon — no agenda, no pitch, no commitment required. Just a chance to meet the people who run this market and tell us a little about yourself.
If you already know you want in, you can apply at spryfieldmarket.ca/get-involved.
We will be there. We hope you will be too.