Public Markets Entrepreneurship Forum

Join us in person at the Public Markets Entrepreneurship Forum: Elevating Neighbourhood Markets. Fueling Small Businesses, on Weds. July 8th, 2026, at St. Lawrence Hall.

This free full-day event brings together Toronto’s market operators, community leaders, small business owners, and sector organizations. Join us to collaborate, share best practices, and access resources and networking to strengthen public markets and support inclusive local economies.

Public Markets Week returns June 6-13th! Plan ahead to participate in the many local markets and tap into all the tasty, fun, creative and cultural offerings. We've put together a list of all the amazing activities you can enjoy across the city.

We're excited to have marketcityTO featured in the latest Learning From What Works report by the School of Cities and the Canadian Urban Institute! 

Lê Huỳnh Như (Hilary), a Community Development Work student from Centennial College, did her field placement work with marketcityTO from September to December 2025. In this blog post, she shares her experiences and reflects on her learning journey towards becoming an truly effective community development work practitioner.

A report on Public Markets Week 2025's numbers, impact, and future opportunities. See you again next year! 

Laura Scrivener, seasoned market manager and current student at Trent University, did her placement work with marketcityTO from May to July 2025. In this blog post, she shares her placement experience and reflects on the valuable work she did to lay the groundwork for marketcityTO's Public Markets Training Program. 

A marketcityTO statement on food sovereignty and human rights in Palestine.

ICYMI, from July 15th to 21st, Toronto came alive with the sights, sounds, and flavours of Public Markets Week 2025, a vibrant city-wide celebration organized by MarketCityTO.

Public Markets Week is happening June 15-21! Join us to show your love for markets and all things local. Take a look at the amazing activities you can enjoy – or even better, check them all out.

Are you ready to be part of Public Market Week!

In its third year, Toronto Public Market Week is a chance for all market operators to join the movement and promote their markers. It is a week long celebration of the importance of neighbourhood markets as hubs for entrepreneurship, access to local food and more imporantly places of community and joy.

The second annual Public Markets Week was packed with local food and festival programming! Here's what we accomplished and celebrated with Public Markets across the city...

Last March, marketcityTO had the privilege of presenting to Community Development Work students from Centennial College, where we talked about Asset-Based Community Development and how it is reflected in marketcityTO's work. It was indeed an afternoon of fruitful exploration into the various public market assets that have enabled marketcityTO to move its work forward, as well as the great potential that public markets have as community economic development tools.  

On a cool February morning, we visited  The Stop Community Food Centre on Davenport to learn about their amazing Good Food Market!

In June 2023, Toronto hosted the 11th International Public Markets Conference, where the City of Toronto announced an official Public Markets Week. Hosted by Project for Public Spaces, in partnership with St. Lawrence Market, the City of Toronto Economic Development Food Cluster Division, and marketcityTO.

Public Markets Featured: 40

Local Partners engaged: 55

In partnership with Jennifer Forde, Red Onions Events, manager of Scarborough and Courtyard Farmers' Market Scarborough Neighbourhood Fresh Food Pilot is prototyping a new model is better suited to the urban context.

Markets involved: 5

BIPOC urban businesses involved: 19

Weather patterns are increasingly unpredictable, placing a responsibility on market managers to ensure the safety of both vendors and customers. Are you preapred?

From April to July 2024, marketcityTO conducted its 2024 Market Managers Survey, which aimed to understand Toronto’s public market ecosystem.

I’m excited to announce my first day at City Hall!

I have officially started a one-year contract with the City of Toronto under the Economic Development and Culture (EDC) division. My primary responsibility will be to develop the Public Markets Action Plan and work with the City division to present it to Council in 2025.

Have you ever seen a pawpaw at the market? It's not a papaya, but it is our largest native fruit and a special treat to find in the fall season here in Ontario!

Since 2015, we have been working to make Toronto public markets visible. From launching a Public Market Working Group in the Toronto Food Policy Council to hosting sessions with market managers or presenting to the City of Toronto Council, it has been a journey, a series of activities, research, projects, and events that help tell the story of why neighbourhood markets matter to the city, the entrepreneurs, and, more importantly, the residents.

We did it! On November 8th, the City Council approved the motion to develop the first Public Market Action Plan for the City of Toronto in 2024. This is the first for Toronto, Canada, and even North America.

Earth Month calls for a public Market Revolution! April, with Earth Day on the 22nd, highlights the urgency of climate action. Wildfires loom, threatening outdoor markets and the communities they sustain. Growers grapple with shifting conditions. How do we spark action? How do we rally support for grassroots initiatives battling climate change?