Margaree market looking to expand in its second year

June 25, 2026

There’ll be a few surprises in store for visitors of the Margaree Food and Artisan Market as it returns this summer.

Held the last Friday of each month from May to September, at the community hall in Southwest Margaree, the market kicked off its second season on May 29. Mary O’Brien Pemberton, one of the market’s organizers, says there are several new features being developed.

“One thing that’s going to be happening is a plant swap,” O’Brien Pemberton says. “At around the same time, we’ll also have people selling seedlings.”

“We’re going to hopefully have some events along with the market, either workshops or music or hot food like pizza,” she adds, noting that the market is also looking at ways to make itself more environmentally friendly.

“We’re hoping to have the first plastic-free market,” she explains. “It’s not entirely without plastic, but what we’re going to try and move away from is single-use plastic. Our food vendors and artists are going to find alternatives, possibly have people bring their own containers or the market will provide paper and other alternatives.”

She says the market featured between 15 and 20 vendors last season, but she’s hoping those numbers will grow this year.

Last year’s edition included a wide range of vendors, from a potter and clothing makers to bakers and artists who sell mainly cards and prints.

“It is somewhat curated in that the arts and the crafts that are there are have to be original,” says O’Brien Pemberton, who owns and operates Flora and Fauna Soap Company.

Like many of the vendors at the Margaree market, she sells her products at other markets across Cape Breton, including Mabou and Baddeck, and while they’ve enjoyed those markets, she says it was time for a new market closer to home.

“Baddeck and Mabou are quite a long way to drive, and we have a lot of talent here closer to Margaree,” she explains. “Margaree is quite an interesting place. We have a great community here. A lot of people have moved here in the last 10 years, so it’s quite a vibrant community, and it just feels like it needs a market.”

Flora and Fauna, like many of the other vendors, fits the market’s theme of originality.

“My soap is kind of unique in the area,” she notes. “There are other soap makers in Cape Breton, but I use beef tallow as one of my products and I try to source it from farmers in the area.”

Refreshments are already a feature of the monthly market, as it includes an artisanal lemonade stand, as well as a vendor who sells espresso coffees.

“The coffee vendor is also a very talented raw organic food baker,” O’Brien Pemberton points out. “She is the only person on the island making these sorts of products. They’re extremely high quality. She was trained in Europe, and she is offering a very unique product that I don’t think can be found anywhere else.”

The market runs from 2 to 4 p.m., and organizers chose Friday partly because Sunday was already taken by the weekly market in Mabou, but also to take advantage of traffic created by a fish vendor who was already visiting the community on Friday afternoons.

“There’s a fish truck that comes to Margaree on Fridays and it’s very popular, so we were trying to time it with that, and hopefully we can collaborate with him and with other food vendors and potentially food trucks, so that there will be more than one event happening at the same time.”

O’Brien Pemberton says the market’s first season was a learning experience, with an average of 100 people visiting each month.

“It was hot and cold,” she says. “We learned a lot about our local community—about when it’s active and when it isn’t.”

“I felt like the feedback has been fantastic,” she adds. “Many, many people have told us they look forward to the start of the season. As people take notice of it, it seems to be getting more popular.”