This is the kind of thing I long for Downtown Stoney Creek to have.

I used to live in the Locke Street neighbourhood. We're talking twenty-plus years ago, but I still love the place; I grab the occasional coffee at the Locke Street Bakery, allow myself to be bought the odd meal at the West Town (I go back far enough to remember shopping at the book store that was there when Joe's domain didn't extend as far as it currently does.), I've had Macs serviced at Light, had pizza from Paradise...and if I won a sufficiently large lottery, I've always wanted to re-open the Regent Cinema. (No, no joke.)

So I'm quite envious of this:

Locke Street Farmers' Market

A new Farmers' Market on Locke Street South is opening on Thursday, June 17,2010.

Locke Street Farmers' Market
Every Thursday from 3 to 7 pm
June 17th until October 28th at
211 Locke Street South in the Parking Lot

On opening day, there will be a cooking demonstration featuring Executive Chef, Jeff Crump and Pastry Chef, Bettina Schormann.

Mayor Eisenberger and Councillor McHattie will be present at the opening ceremonies on the 17th.

Available at the market:

• local organic fruit & herbs
• local lamb, beef, wild boar & chicken
• fresh local vegetables
• breads, pies & pastries and more!

WHY: Delivered from the farmer’s fields to the heart of Locke Street, families young and old will be able to access the freshest of locally grown products. The farms are local, sustainable and managed by families who care for their land and their animals.

More information can be found at the Locke Street website.

'Raise the Hammer' covered the market's opening last month; their article is here. (Check out the link in the Comments section for the 'Hamilton Eat Local Blog'.)

This kind of regular fixture is precisely what you will read me yammering on about here at My Stoney Creek. We have huge space, Municipal Lot #3 that is not used to its potential on Saturdays (Or Sundays, for that matter.), and there's no reason to believe that Stoney Creek residents wouldn't be as interested in being able to purchase the kinds of goods suggested above as their Locke Street cousins are.

What would it take to generate the kind of energies required to get something like this happening? Who would you talk to were you interested in having this kind of feature in Downtown Stoney Creek?

Hats off to Locke Street; continued success in your endeavours!