Community markets

The most reliable event on the Central Alberta calendar is not a festival - it is Saturday morning. Nearly every town in the region runs a farmers' market, and between them they form a circuit you could follow all summer without repeating a stop. Red Deer, Lacombe, Sylvan Lake, Ponoka, Innisfail, Blackfalds, Rocky Mountain House, Stettler and a long list of smaller communities each have their own.

Alberta Approved markets require that the majority of vendors make, bake or grow what they sell, which is what keeps these from turning into flea markets. In practice that means market gardens and greenhouse growers, beef and pork from farms an hour away, honey, eggs, preserves, baking, perogies and samosas from home kitchens, plus the craft and maker stalls that fill the rest of the tables.

Markets are also the softest social entry point in the region. There is no ticket, no schedule to keep and no commitment beyond a walk through a parking lot or a main street. For newcomers, a Saturday market is usually the fastest way to meet a town - the vendors are the people who live there, and they will tell you what is worth doing nearby.

Most outdoor markets run from roughly May through Thanksgiving, and several of the larger ones move indoors for a winter season and a Christmas market weekend in November or December.