Strawberry Social – June 2010… Not So Social.

Not so great. Not so anything!

I really felt that maybe I shouldn’t write anything about the Strawberry Social at the St.Lawrence Market, however something DOES need to be said. Here is me being nice: I was disappointed.

Now here is a run-down:

First, timing: This was listed with a 9am starting time on a Saturday. Normally when going to the St.Lawrence Market on a Saturday morning, I like to get there by about 6am. I enjoy the market in the relaxing setting that it offers before all of the other people get there. I get the freshest foods, and avoid most of the crowds {with the exception of the other early birds like myself }. But this weekend, I went for 8:30am so that I wouldn’t be waiting around for hours. This being said, I STILL ended up waiting around… 9am came along, and nothing was happening. I walked through the market, and didn’t see anyone setting anything up. I finally saw someone with a t-shirt that had a strawberry on it, so asked them about the Strawberry Social. She said she didn’t know what was going on, but thought it was starting at 9:30 {while handing me a pamphlet that clearly said “9am” for the start time…}, and said to come back then. So at 9:30, I came back. I was told to come back at 10am as it wouldn’t be starting until then. I came back at 10am, still nothing. So I walked over to the North Market where the “face painting” was happening.

South Market: I was told that at 10am, there was an information/history session and samples happening at the winery, but I haven’t been a fan of drinking for a little while now, so didn’t stick around for that. At the other end of the South Market, I have no idea how the free samples of smoothies went, because I had been waiting around for an hour and a half with NOTHING happening. So I left. Who was organizing this, a four-year old? *sigh*

North Market: There was a table at the front entrance with a few girls handing out cups of strawberries, and strawberries dipped in chocolate. So I got one of each. Yay! Although, for the amount of time that I wasted waiting around, I probably should have taken the whole tray of chocolate dipped strawberries…

Strawberries: It’s funny… The free samples of strawberries that I got, and the chocolate dipped one, tasted better than the 2 containers of strawberries that I bought. The best price I saw for Ontario grown strawberries was 2 cartons for $8. {Eeep!! Why so pricey?!? Aren’t these local?!?} Even though I could have gotten 1 lb at the grocery store for less than $5, I decided to buy some here to support local growers. I took them home, and was sad to see that even after carefully selecting my strawberries AND carefully carrying them home, most of them were terribly bruised/mushy. They LOOKED okay at a first glance, but even the best looking ones I could find were softer than they should have been. I don’t know what it is, but the quality of the strawberries both this weekend and last weekend are just not what I would have expected from the farmers’ market. So after tossing the ones that were too mushy to save, and cutting the bruises off of the better berries, I probably only had about 1 carton in total. $8… Man, that was a disappointment. I could have bought a big bag of frozen strawberries to add to my smoothies. And for those that say “well, local berries taste better”… Sadly, that’s not always true. Even with it being strawberry season, these berries were definitely less-than-sweet. I think after this experience, I need to go pick my own or something.