NEWS

A sign of spring: mural celebrates farmers’ market

Farmers' market mural unveiled at June Rowlands Park.
A GOOD SIGN: Student painters and their mentors rejoice this morning at the unveiling of a mural depicting farmers market presence at June Rowlands Park in Davisville.

Davisville Village Farmers’ Market, a May to October fixture at June Rowlands Park since 2012, has been commemorated with a mural, courtesy young fans at Davisville Junior Public School and the city’s Parks, Forestry & Recreation department.

The mural is mounted on a converted baseball scoreboard. It depicts the farmers’ market on one side and a country road scene on the other. Painted by 35 grades 1–5 students at Davisville Junior P.S., it was unveiled this morning in a ceremony at the park.

Taking part in the festivities were local activist and project instigator Lesley Stoyan and Ward 22 councillor Josh Matlow, along with the students and staff from the school.

“The students that participated all live in the neighbourhood, and going to the market is a ritual for them,” said school staff advisor Elizabeth Savelli. “They were super thrilled to be able to work on it.”

AppleTree, the non-profit organization that runs the market, also runs a Sustainable Schools program at Davisville P.S. that teaches students where their food comes from and provides them with daily farm-fresh snacks. The mural project began when a supervisor with the city’s Parks, Forestry & Recreation department donated the old scoreboard to AppleTree.

Students were instructed to “paint what the market means to them,” Savelli said. It inspired touches such as a balloon seller walking on stilts among the stalls, a road between the farm and the market, and information written using letters made of vegetables.

Their handiwork will be on permanent display at the Mount Pleasant Road entrance to the park, where the market will run this year from May 12 to Oct. 12.

“For the students, I think it’s a lovely community-building feature,” Savelli said.