When it’s summertime again in Montreal, you want to be outside, with your hands in the grass and a wicker basket at your elbow – full of seasonal vegetables, flowers and local honey. It’s the season for barbecues, big Sunday salads and growing fresh herbs on the balcony.
When spring arrives, we all become a bit of a hippie-dippie, and it’s an impulse we’ll easily indulge at Montreal’s markets, most of which, from the end of the month, will be open to the outdoors – the sun in our eyes and the river wind in our hair.
On a more serious note, it’s good to store local. And Montreal and the surrounding area have some incredibly high-quality produce: meat, duck, seafood, fish, flower honey, fruit and vegetables,microbrewery beers and, of course, maple products…
The tradition of Montreal’s great markets
Montreal’s oldest public market is the Marché de Lachine, which opened in 1845. After a devastating fire, it was rebuilt and can now be found in the two-storey building completed in 1909. It is now being refurbished so that it can be open all year round…
Jean-Talon Market
Montreal’s largest public market is Marché Jean-Talon. Inaugurated in 1933, it is now one of the largest markets in North America. It was originally called “Marché du Nord” until 1983, when it was renamed after the first Intendant of New France.
It’s open year-round, and in summer the aisles around its outdoor market are closed to cars, making it feel like a farmer’s market in a country town. You can find everything, and the choice of products from local producers is incredibly rich; meats, fruits, flowers, vegetables… You name it. Traditionally, this is the market where we pick up the first Canadian tulips of spring.
The walls that close off the market will be dismantled during the week of April 28, and the market will officially open to the outside world on May 3.
Atwater Market
Montreal’s most Art-Deco market is the Atwater Market, and now the building, completed in 1933, that houses this public market is listed as one of Montreal’s most beautiful buildings. Walls are erected around the market in winter, and dismantled in spring to transform the indoor market into an outdoor one.
Maisonneuve Market
Montreal’s most old-school market is Marché Maisonneuve. It’s located in a large stone building in the Hochelaga district.
It’s open year-round, and market gardeners offer flowers and herbs in its outdoor space during the summer months.
This year, the market opens its doors to the outside world on Saturday April 26!
Montréal’s neighbourhood and solidarity markets
Montreal also has a culture of neighborhood life, and depending on where you live (or where you’re staying if you’re visiting), there’s always a market nearby.
Montreal’s public markets have a network of local producers and markets that offer local and ultra-local produce , whether in solidarity markets (which improve the quality of supply in neighborhoods that don’t necessarily have easy access to large public markets by setting up, among other things, at subway exits) or in neighborhood markets.
A list of Montreal’s neighborhood markets is available here;
- Marché de Quartier Jean-Brillant at Côte-des-Neiges metro station – Richard Trottier’s Marché de Quartier
- Marché de Quartier du Carré St Louis – Le K, Fadila and Omar Fezzoua’s gourmet break
- Square Victoria Neighborhood Market – Gérald Desjardins’ flower market
- Place Jacques Cartier Neighborhood Market – Magali Thibault’s market
- Le Marché de Quartier Mont-Royal – John Fogarty’s kiosk
- Le Marché de Quartier Papineau – Amine Mohamed’s market
Most public markets have some form of outdoor space, which will reopen at the end of April (or whenever the weather permits), and you can find us there, arms full of local produce for our Sunday brunches, barbecues with friends and our ultra-vitamin summer meal prep …
Enjoy your visit to the markets!