A market of mixed spirits

Laden with bread, cookies, pies, apple butter, and sweet maple syrup, Mennonite wives move briskly to their individual booths. Before long, homemade treats — pickled eggs, pickled cauliflower, and pickled garlic in a colorful assortment of gleaming bottles — are stacked neatly. The women are ready to sell.

Despite their strong presence, this is not exclusively a Mennonite market. Local farmers and market vendors from far and wide gather here throughout the year to sell what is reputed to be the finest produce, the best summer sausage, and the tastiest melt-in-your-mouth cookies this side of the Niagara River. Here in a barn that hums with activity, shoppers from Toronto and surrounding towns mingle with country folk in a heady atmosphere of holiday bustle.

On the periphery of the market barn, the hardier vendors have set up outside, where a fresh wind whips their cheeks. Marcello Didiano, a fruit seller, has the right idea. Rollicking, foot-stomping folk music blares from a van parked on the edge of his tiny selling space. The irrepressible Didiano keeps time to his music — and wards off the freeze — by dancing up and down and waving his arms.

Didiano’s neighbor, who is selling honey, is equally lively. Nearby, a Mennonite woman, muffled in coat and black bonnet, stacks zucchini and spreads new potatoes on a frost-rimmed tray. She smiles, but refuses a request for a photo.

Inside, there is no place quite like St. Jacobs Market with its 250 vendors. For foodies it’s paradise. Vendors, their booths crammed with delicacies, are swamped with eager buyers. A note on a tray at Gracie’s Christmas Cookies makes it clear that she is not providing samples on this day.