{"id":18908,"date":"2017-11-08T16:43:19","date_gmt":"2017-11-08T21:43:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=18908"},"modified":"2017-11-08T16:43:19","modified_gmt":"2017-11-08T21:43:19","slug":"market-musings-84","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/market-musings-84\/","title":{"rendered":"MARKET MUSINGS"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Jan Freedman<\/strong><\/p>\n

Now that the Aurora Farmers\u2019 Market and Artisan Fair has ended its 2017 Outdoor Season, we move indoors to the Aurora Armory at the edge of Town Park for a short Indoor Season.
\nThe first Indoor Market for this year will occur this Saturday, November 11, from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. As it is Remembrance Day, we will observe a minute\u2019s silence at 11 a.m. and Taps will be played to honour all the Veterans who unselfishly sacrificed so much for the freedoms which we enjoy today.
\nLet me now tell you about one of the Farmers\u2019 Market\u2019s most colourful vendors and, with complete transparency, one of my best friends.
\nJohn Abraham, an American born of Lebanese parents, grew up in Worcester, MA in a tightly knit family. They lived in a triple decker with both sets of grandparents. From the age of 12 until 18, he worked in his uncle\u2019s shoe shine\/repair\/ hat cleaning business while also handling illegal gambling bets.
\nJohn attributes much of his early education to those days!
\nHe moved on to the US Air Force and, after four years as an orderly room clerk, decided to return to school. While engaged in some graduate work, John met Paula. She became his wife and soul mate.
\nIn 1971, John was accepted to do a post secondary degree in Religious Studies at McGill University so they moved to Montreal. A few years later, their son Christopher was born followed by Paula Marie. Those days were amazing, wonderful and, at times, harrowing. Today, John has five fabulous, beautiful and bright grandchildren who all live close to Aurora.
\nAfter receiving a teaching degree from McGill, John began teaching religious studies at the High School level. He continued to do this for 40 years, both in Montreal and then in Markham\/Aurora.
\nAs a religious studies teacher, John developed a strong orientation to social justice issues, especially concerning poverty. This led to an involvement in Fair Trade – a network which provides producers in developing countries a fair price for their products. Workers can then become part of a sustainable and equitable relationship which gives them stability and empowers people at the grassroots level. People move from dependency to independence, raising their dignity. The slogan \u201cTrade not Aid\u201d captures this principle.
\nThe Fair Trade network eliminates the middle man while trading directly with workers and small farmer cooperatives, providing funding for community development. While adhering to international labour organization standards, it promotes the production of products through sustainable environmental practices.
\nThis was what John wanted to bring to the Aurora Farmers\u2019 Market and joined when we were in the parking lot on Temperance Street.
\nHis product line expanded after we moved to Town Park and he added German Strudel and Montreal style bagels, becoming known as \u201cthe Strudel Man\u201d. When you visit his booth\/table, he will sing you his famous \u201cStrudel Dee Strudel Dum\u201d song on demand or not, or perhaps the \u201cCheer Cheer for Ole Notre Dame\u201d ditty, sports being another of John\u2019s passions. Be sure to stop by to say \u201chi\u201d at all three of the Indoor Markets.
\nThe following are the vendors who are expected to be at the first Indoor Market this Saturday:
\nJohn Abraham, Jan\u2019s Country Pantry, Eva Nagy with her fabric creations, Mark Kolb with Brainy Games, Green Garden Perennial Farm with cut flowers and plants, Green Leaf Designs with jewellery, Bill Hack with BBQ Tools, Nancy Wood\u2019s Heartsease with fabric, knit and crocheted items, Lucy Quintero with Limitless Jewels, Kim Boland\u2019s Kibo Natural Body Care, Minda Davis and Katie Argyle with art and Pottery, Marnie Parkin of Bear\u2019s Den with knit socks and gloves, Cathy of Catharina\u2019s Kitchen\u2019s with baking and coffee, Ginger\u2019s Cupcakes and Desserts, Andy and 19th Avenue Farm, David Heard of Creepy Tours and Andre or Jim with Pioneer Honey. By Saturday, there may be some changes to the vendors, but we\u2019ll be there waiting to greet you.
\nSee you at the Indoor Market!<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Jan Freedman Now that the Aurora Farmers\u2019 Market and Artisan Fair has ended its 2017 Outdoor Season, we move indoors to the Aurora Armory at the edge of Town Park for a short Indoor Season. The first Indoor Market for this year will occur this Saturday, November 11, from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[29,28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18908","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-columns","category-opinion"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-4UY","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-21 20:18:06","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18908","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18908"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18908\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}