YOUTH FOOD MARKET
Youth-driven, Accessible produce stalls
The Youth Food Market is a series of youth-focused produce stalls that run each summer in Waterloo Region. These produce stalls are focused on making fresh and locally grown produce more accessible to our community.
This initiative aims to support our local food system and improve access to fresh food, all while empowering youth by fostering hands-on learning, leadership development, and meaningful community engagement.
This season, the Market ran for 7 weeks throughout July and August, for a total of 21 Market days this season across three locations: Eastwood C.I., Victoria Hills Community Centre, and rare Charitable Research Reserve.
Our 15 youth Market Leaders contributed nearly 200 hours to the Market, and more than 125 youth hours were spent training & planning for it throughout spring. In total, approximately 565 pounds of produce was sold to 252 customers using a pay-what-you-choose model. More than 330 additional pounds of produce was donated to 2 community food initiatives throughout the season: Community Healthcaring KW and the Cambridge Food Bank.
The Garden teams spent 8 weeks leading 6 school garden spaces throughout July and August, each equipped with a $200 Garden Improvement Fund to create, innovate, and build within their spaces.
Our 24 youth Garden Leaders contributed at least 400 hours to the gardens, and at least 265 hours in training activities, field trips, and excursions for even more learning and connection!
2025 MARKET DATES & LOCATIONS:
For 2025, the Youth Food Market took place weekly at three locations from mid-July to late August:
Eastwood Collegiate Institute
Weekly on Tuesdays from 4:00pm – 6:00pm
Beginning July 15th and ending August 26th.
760 Weber St. W Kitchener, ON. N2H 1H6
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Victoria Hills Community Centre
Weekly on Wednesdays from 4:00-6:00
Beginning July 16th and ending August 27th.
10 Chopin Dr. Kitchener, ON. N2M 2G2
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Rare Eco Centre
Weekly on Thursdays from 3:00-6:00
Beginning July 17th and ending August 28th.
768 Blair Rd. Cambridge, ON. N3H 4R8
OUR FARM PARTNERS
Each year, our farm partners collectively provided about 75-80% of the total produce sold and donated at the Markets. Huge thanks to them for offering produce at reduced cost in order to make this project happen! Click on each of their logos below to learn more about them.
Market Leaders and Garden Leaders are both important volunteer youth roles that work together to support the Youth Food Market.
Market Leaders work as a team to co-lead our weekly summer markets. Market teams meet bi-weekly to prepare and plan for market days. Youth on these teams take part in deciding produce pricing, designing the market, and creating promotional materials for the market!
Garden Leaders grow food for the community in school garden spaces throughout July and August, while hoping to leave a lasting impact on the space by caring for the space and adding some garden improvements throughout the summer.
Both Market and Garden leaders take place in pre-season training days made to prepare youth for the summer, then, workshops, and field trips create ongoing learning opportunities.
Market Leaders
Starting in May, our Market Leaders met biweekly for collaborative planning sessions alongside support staff. These get-togethers were used as a space for project development, utilizing a wide range of skills in logistics, finance, marketing, coordination, and leadership. Market Leaders work together to make sure everything is in place for the summer markets. This includes reaching out to farm partners and placing produce orders, tracking what’s being harvested from the gardens, researching local produce prices, and creating social media posts to spread the word.
…And then, of course, the market days themselves!
Garden Leaders
During July and August, our Garden Leaders tended to their respective gardens. They meet weekly as a team to collectively care for the space and harvest for the markets. Throughout the summer each garden team collaboratively carries out garden improvement projects using their team funds, so the school communities could come back to thriving and productive spaces in September. Each garden team had a mentor from the community to call on, as well as support from our staff.
This role focused on collaboratively learning how to grow food and giving youth their own garden space to care for and foster!
2025 PROJECT FUNDERS
Remaining and excess produce in 2025 was donated to Community Healthcaring KW and the Cambridge Food Bank.
A BIG THANKS TO ALL OF OUR 2025 PARTNERS & SUPPORTERS:
rare Charitable Research Reserve
Eastwood Collegiate Institute
Resurrection C.S.S.
Kitchener-Waterloo C.I.
Glenview Park S.S.
Waterloo Region District School Board
Waterloo Catholic District School Board
This Project is Made Possible by Outstanding Youth Market Leaders!
Youth in Food Systems has actively engaged over 485 volunteers with food systems projects within Ontario since spring 2021.
The Youth Food Market is a youth-created initiative providing fresh, locally grown and affordably priced produce to the community, while giving young people the opportunity to understand and apply business and agricultural concepts.
2023 & 2024 GALLERY
