Local market returns for summer

BY RAFFY BOUDJIKANIAN

raffy.boudjikanian@transcontinental.ca

One of the most colourful traditions of the West Island will be returning Saturday for the summer, when Ste. Anne de Bellevue's boardwalk gets covered with stalls and booths bursting with produce by local vendors. “At the Ste. Anne market, you will find products that taste good, that taste real, and that come from around here," said the market's founder, Frédéric Thériault, who will be part of the vendors selling organic vegetables.

The market, which runs Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., had moved into a church basement for the dreary winter months, but it will be time to move out of hibernation soon.

It had started in 2001 when local producers formed a citizens' association to encourage the sale of fresh local products in the West Island area. "Now we're going to get registered as a non-profit organization," Thériault explained.

Novelties this year include a potter and a soap artisan. "She's going to try to be ready for next Saturday," said Thériault of the latter, although it might have to wait for a few days later, too.

Thériault praised the several different kinds of produce by local merchants, highlighting the fresh types of bread and croissants available thanks to the baker, a lot of different vegetables, and the butcher's prime cuts of meat. "I used to be a vegetarian," Thériault joked, "but now I'm a sausage addict."

Bernard Bélanger, who has run an artesian bakery at the market since 2002, said he always has felt very welcome there. "We really feel like we're part of the Ste. Anne community," he said, even though he does not live there.

Bélanger's raisin and yeast bread are among the specialties he brings to the table every year, but the biggest buzz is about the "goodies," as he calls them: plain, chocolate and almond-flavoured croissants. "People have a hard time resisting those," he said with a laugh.

The market goes up Saturday at 9 a.m. There will be live music that day.