It’s the season of Holiday and Winter Markets! Holiday and Winter Markets across the city of Toronto provide opportunities to gather with community and support small businesses, alongside increasing access to local food. Operating as a vital source of income for small businesses, Toronto’s Holiday and Winter Markets sector has grown from a handful in 2019 to over 30 by 2025. 

However, these markets must navigate the challenges of the winter season, with limited access to affordable venues, higher operational costs, and inconsistent traffic and sales. To help winter markets thrive and remain visible and viable for local businesses and communities, they need targeted support and training.

Holiday & Winter Markets Webinars:

Join our webinar series to meet some of the top market operators! It's a great opportunity to hear the tips and tricks they use to get the holiday and winter market scene going in our city. Presented in partnership with the City of Toronto.

Webinar 1: Winter Wonderland: Tips and Tricks from Outdoor Holiday Markets Operators

Tuesday, November 24, from 12:00 pm to 1:15 pm

Overview:

Holiday Outdoor Markets are all about culture, commerce and creating some fantastic outdoor spaces! You've got fire pits, magical lights, live music and an abundance of themed vendors to create a real celebration for people of all ages. However, the difficulties in organizing these markets are real. From unpredictable weather, to increased costs, you've got to find the right vendors, and attract a crowd to an outdoor winter event!

Panelists:

• Christina Tedesco, Supervisor, Marketing, Communications, & Events at St. Lawrence Market District, Winter Market

• Connie Amartey, Director of Venue and Events at STACKT Market, Holiday Hills

• Laura Burnham, Yonge North York BIA, 4th Annual Festive Tree Lighting & Christmas Market

• Jean-Nick Trudel, General Manager, Marches Publics du Quebec

Webinar 2: Market Magic: Secrets to Indoor Holiday Season Market Success

Tuesday, December 1st, from 12:00 pm to 1:15 pm

Overview: 

Farmers, Flea, vintage, and makers markets are lighting up the city for the holiday season. These gatherings bring in visitors looking for unique, affordable gifts—whether for their loved ones, or themselves. However, hosting a successful indoor market isn’t easy, as it requires finding affordable indoor spaces, along with funding for live music and public programs to deliver a great visitor experience. Curating the right vendor and product mix, plus unpredictable weather, makes it hard to draw crowds to winter events.

Panelists:

• Sonya Reynols, Program Manager, Evergreen Brick Works, Winter Market

• Alexa Pereyra, Director of Operations, Leslieville Farmers’ Market and Neighbourhood Food Project

• Jennifer Lay, Executive Director, Riverside BIA

• Steph Kittmer, General Manager, Ottawa Farmer’s Market 

Webinar 3: Fresh Finds in Frosty Times: Year-Round Farmers & Fresh Food Markets

Tuesday, January 19th, from 12:00 pm to 1:15 pm

Overview:

Year-round farmers’ markets and fresh food markets play a vital role in supporting Ontario producers, artisans, and food entrepreneurs across our city and region. By continuously bringing fresh food into local neighbourhoods, these markets help foster healthy communities even during the winter months. However, challenges such as inconsistent foot traffic, a 'hibernation mentality,' limited awareness of Ontario winter products, and difficult weather conditions can impact vendor sales, threaten market viability, and reduce the vibrancy of the market experience.

Panelists:

• Laura Smith, Executive Director Vancouver Markets

• Gideon Greenbaum-Shinder, Market Manager, Sorauren Farmers’ Market

• Shery Bowmen & Julia Grady,  Guelph Farmers’ Market

Micro-Grant Program:

Building on the success of Public Markets Week, marketcityTO will launch a Holiday and Winter Markets micro-grant program. Fifteen community-based markets will each receive $1500 to create free public programming or purchase infrastructure and tools for outdoor winter events. Priority will be given to markets serving equity-seeking groups.

Tell us about your vision for this upcoming winter markets season! Whether it's a market activation you’ve been dreaming up for Lunar New Year, or a cozy winter craft series, we hope this program can support you in bringing it to life.

Application coming soon.

Holiday and Winter Markets Toolkit

There’s currently no toolkit to guide successful Holiday and Winter Markets in Toronto or Canada. This year, we are launching a collaborative effort to fill that gap. 

The toolkit will be shared as a resource with those participating in the webinars, alongside being made available on the City of Toronto Public Market landing page, and the marketcityTO website. This is an evolving outcome of the webinars, and will be released closer to the end of the season.

Stay tuned for more details!

Love Local: Holiday and Winter Markets Campaign

Through compelling stories, photography, and videography at markets throughout the holiday and winter season, we will highlight all the ways Torontonians can continue to support local all year round. By developing social media assets for markets to use, we will build a consistent and unified brand identity for Holiday and Winter Markets, in order to raise public awareness.

City of Toronto Public Market Calendar: 

Add your market to the City’s Public Market Calendar, featuring over 25+ Holiday and Winter Markets last year, you don’t want to miss this opportunity to amplify your market! Please submit your event here.

Note: Please do not upload images containing logos or text, as these create accessibility barriers for users with disabilities; if you submit one, administrators will replace it with a City of Toronto default image. Images should have an aspect ratio of 3:2 with a minimum resolution of 600 (width) x 400 (height) pixels.

The Holiday and Winter Markets program is funded by

City of Toronto's Economic & Culture Division.