It has stood along the Trans-Canada Highway for decades, selling local produce, dairy, foods — and lately artisan goods — to travellers and locals south of Nanaimo.
But within a matter of an hour, much of the Cassidy Farm Market was reduced to ashes as a fire ripped through the timber-frame structure.
The blaze not only destroyed the history, it torched the dreams of young entrepreneurs who had recently leased the market.
Whirly Bird, who graduated from Vancouver Island University’s entrepreneurial training program last fall, and fellow food entrepreneur Sabrina Anderson started their own renovations to the market in February, and launched Stray Moat Farm Market on Mothers Day with an all-woman team and a fresh take on the space. Before the fire, the market was just getting into the rhythm as a hub for local farmers and artisans and a meeting place in the community.
“We did almost everything we’d hope to do in our first year of business,” Bird and Anderson said in a statement. “[We] worked directly with 32 local producers, makers, bakers and artists, hired three women from Cassidy to complete our all-woman team and were able to uplift the farming community to build a space where more Island products were accessible to the Island community.
“We know we provided a space that featured real, local food and brought people together.”
Over the past year, Bird and Anderson hosted community days, supported food system and education projects from co-ops and school farms, fundraised for community causes and built a network with Central Island producers to continue the tradition of a family-run farm market.
Ron Gueulette, chief of the Cranberry volunteer fire department, said the call came in at 2:47 a.m. Wednesday, and photos from the person who reported it showed a small fire.
But that changed quickly, he said. In the eight minutes it took crews to reach the site, the fire surged, triggering alarms and mutual-aid supports from the Extension, North Cedar and North Oyster fire departments.
A ladder truck was deployed and firefighters hit the blaze from above and several other angles. Tenders brought water from pressurized hydrants at the Nanaimo Airport across the highway.
Gueulette said in all, about 35 firefighters were at the scene, but the fire spread fast, which he attributed to the age and openness of the structure, which was framed with timbers.
“It’s a big loss for sure, and for the people operating it.”
The RCMP, B.C. Hydro and paramedics were on scene, and southbound lanes on the Trans-Canada Highway were closed until 6 a.m. Wednesday.
It’s unclear how old the building was, but the fire chief said the owner did some repairs to the floors in one portion of the structure recently and found newspapers dating to 1931.
No injuries were reported and the fire commissioner was still investigating possible causes on Thursday. Fire officials don’t suspect foul play because there was no sign of forced entry.
The market building’s owner, Grant Fong, told CHEK News the building held many special memories.
“It’s been a landmark and has a lot of history here,” said Fong. “We’ve seen customers grow up from toddlers to young adults and start families of their own.”
Fong and his wife, Melissa, recently became new grandparents and were eager to pass the market on to Bird and Anderson, who were keen to freshen the approach and build on the legacy.
The building had been a farm market since the early 1970s, and the Fongs have owned it for the past 22 years.
Bird said they have no idea how the fire started. They close Tuesdays and had gone by that morning to load up the cooler with fresh produce for an end-of-season sale, she said.
They had been working hard to get in a special selection of handmade products from sustainable beeswax wraps to salves, Indigenous beadwork and pottery fundraising for the conservation of ancient forest ecosystems, she said.
They woke up Wednesday to find a total loss and their anticipated “Thanksgiving weekend sales rush” to end the season wiped out.
Market employee Taelyr McLeod launched an online fundraiser at www.gofundme.com/f/donate-to-help-stray-moat-farmers to help the two women recover some of the losses.
“Whirly and Sabrina were only renting the building and are stuck with a massive loss of unique local art, produce, equipment and many other items,” said McLeod. “That, as well as winter quickly approaching, has left them in an extremely difficult spot financially.”
She said any money donated will first be used to pay back local artists for their lost work, and then to support their “continued journey to bring Island food to the community.”
Bird said she is grateful for the community support and knows it will take a community to rebuild their vision for a community farm store.
— with files from Cindy Harnett
