Guelph might be the perfect place to host an event focused on ecological awareness and products.
The engaged community, and others just looking to check out some new things, flocked to Old Quebec Street Mall on a cool but sunny Saturday to take in the Guelph Ecomarket that ran alongside the weekend's broader Resilience Festival.
Different events, but connected in many ways.
The market showcased products and ways that help reduce environmental impact with green ideas, services and technologies for your home, business or community.
The ecomarket was hosted by eMERGE Guelph, an organization that connects citizens and organizations with the goal of maximizing "resource efficiency and community well-being" in areas such as energy, water, transportation and food.
Steve Yessie of eMERGE was thrilled with the turnout.
"Guelph is a very engaged community. Even before I moved to Guelph that's all I heard about Guelph," Yessie said, "and I was not let down when I came.
"It's very engaged and very much on the pulse of the environmental movement and concerned about the environment and sustainability in general."
Products, information tables, workshops and even some drumming were part of the five-hour event that drew a solid crowd.
"It's fantastic. Each passing years it grows and the fact that we run a lot of children's events really helps," Yessie said.
The market featured everything from the Guelph Food Bank and solar energy companies to an organic grocery delivery business and a man who delivers home-made sourdough bread to your door on a bicycle.
Lauren Scallard of Organics Live grocery delivery said "it's amazing that something like this is happening in a little mall, with so many booths that are environmentally conscious.
"It gives the public the opportunity to make contact with some of these groups that they might not have known about."
"There's a lot of people who are here that are environmentally conscious and then there's the general public that are just walking through and seeing some new ideas," Scallard said.
This year's market teamed up with the City of Guelph's H2O GO Festival, which celebrates and educates on all things water.
