It’s a sunny Sunday morning in August and the weekly Station Street Market is getting underway in Oliver.
At the edge of a park bordering the street, nearly 20 vendors have set up shop under canopies. Shoppers, mostly from Oliver, are strolling the sidewalk to check out the merchandise, chat with vendors or socialize with friends.
Several musicians are busking for passersby.
The market stretches between the Oliver Visitor Centre and the Coast Hotel.
It was launched in June by the South Okanagan Chamber of Commerce as part of the Town of Oliver’s Grow Oliver initiative. The Chamber hopes it will become an annual event.
Station Street Market, which launched before summer 2024 in Oliver, has an increasing number of vendors. Their booths line Station Street on Sundays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. (Richard McGuire Photo)
Nick Berkland, winemaker and owner at La Casa Bianca Winery, pours a sample at the Station Street Market in Oliver. The family-run winery uses ingredients from herbs to berries and walnuts to give their wines an interesting taste. (Richard McGuire Photo)
“The Station Street Market has been a great platform to bring on the incubation of new businesses,” says Ryan Duffy, Chamber president. “It’s a great opportunity for homegrown businesses to have a platform to sample their wares, bring it to market, and test things within the community and see if there is going to be a viable marketplace for them.”
Duffy notes that the Chamber’s role is to support local businesses and encourage economic growth in the community.
Itsuki Matsumoto pours a sample of sake, a Japanese rice wine, for a visitor at the Station Street Market in Oliver. (Richard McGuire Photo)
The Grow Oliver plan has included a focus on food security and small business growth, says Denise Blashko, Chamber manager, who also manages the market as it gets up and running.
“Over the years, conversations were happening about having a market start up again here in Oliver, so they [Grow Oliver] talked with the Chamber, and we said we could help out in terms of getting it started,” she says. “It’s all about bringing the community together, bringing us back out in real life again, instead of always on the computer and social media.”
Because there are markets in other local communities such as Osoyoos, Okanagan Falls, Penticton, Summerland and Peachland, it was decided to hold the Oliver market on Sundays when it was less likely to conflict with other markets. The market runs from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. every Sunday and it continues until September 29.
“We would like to support it and continue on,” says Blashko. “Ultimately we’d like to get a board going for the market though so that it is self-sufficient and sustainable over time.”
Keith Buccini shows an assortment of "functional pottery" that he sells at Oliver's Station Street Market. Operating as Stonehand Studio, he works in his garage to produce pottery such as cups and kitchenware, that have a function beyond their artistic value. (Richard McGuire Photo)
There’s a wide range of vendors. Some are hobbyists who are testing the waters to see if they can turn their hobbies into viable businesses. Some are more established businesses, who want to raise awareness of their products – this includes winemakers and distillers offering samples of their beverages. Others are local farmers selling fresh fruits and vegetables, often grown organically.
Some vendors come regularly, while others are trying out the market for their first or second times.
Oliver bills itself as “Canada’s Wine Capital,” so it’s no surprise that there were local winemakers pouring samples. What was surprising this Sunday in August was the variety of less conventional alcoholic beverages and related products.
Erich Smith-Peter, of Cawston, owns the Maison Smith-Montpetit bottega and vineyards organic winery in the Similkameen. Pictured here, he pours a sample at the Station Street Market in Oliver. Through a partnership, he also sells wins for Mythology Vineyard. (Richard McGuire Photo)
At one end, Itsuki Matsumoto of Kizuna Sake offers tastes of Japanese rice wine. He shows off Junmai sake, a traditional style, as well as Yuzu, which adds a highly aromatic Japanese lemon flavour. Matsumoto, from Osaka, Japan, has been in Canada for one year.
At the opposite end of the market is Erich Smith, owner of Smith Montpetit Bottega and Vineyards near Cawston. He began as a scientist with a master’s degree in molecular biology, genetics, pharmacology and microbiology, so becoming an organic winemaker seemed a natural fit.
Between the two is Nick Berkland, winemaker and owner at La Casa Bianca Winery north of Oliver. He’s crafting 48 flavours of wine using crops grown on the farm. In addition to more conventional wines, he uses a coffee process to make wines with fruit, nuts and grapes with a taste emphasizing those crops.
Further along, Lindsey White of Bartier Brothers Vineyard and Winery south of Oliver is selling “piquettes,” cans of a refreshing carbonated wine beverage.
The winery’s main product is a full portfolio of wines, but the piquettes use a second pressing of grape skins with a little water and sugar to re-ferment it. The finished product is 4% alcohol with zero sugar.
“It’s a very light refreshing beverage,” she says. “Great for hot summer days.”
Grant Stevely, owner of Dubh Glas Distillery in Gallagher Lake, pours a sample of Noteworthy Gin at the Station Street Market in Oliver. When he started the craft distillery, his goal was to produce a single-malt whisky, but that takes years to age. To keep the lights on as the whisky aged, he produced Noteworthy Gin -- an award-winning product that his lived up to its name. (Richard McGuire Photo)
Grant Stevely of Dubh Glas Distillery at Gallagher Lake is another example of a vendor with an established business using the market to introduce his craft gin and single-malt whisky more widely.
Long a single-malt aficionado, Stevely says he moved to the Okanagan because he believed the hot, dry environment would allow him to produce a fantastic whisky in a short period of time. He needed a product he could produce immediately to keep the lights on while the whisky matured, so he turned to gin.
“Gin was something that I didn’t actually really appreciate when I first started the distillery,” Stevely says. “Now I certainly have an appreciation for it.”
His Noteworthy Gin quickly began winning awards, in part for its bold flavour profile. A few years later, when his Single-Malt Canadian Whisky was released, it too began winning awards.
Shilo Schauer, from Greenwood, makes and sells freeze-dried candies at the Station Street Market in Oliver. The freeze drying gives them a different texture and intensifies the flavours. (Richard McGuire Photo)
Ric Stacey’s business Lone Willow Jellies uses wine and beer to create jellies. He also makes syrups and hot sauces.
“We make jelly for about 30 wineries in B.C. now where they give us the wine and we make jelly out of it. We custom label it and it goes back to the winery,” Stacey says.
They even do a jelly from BRBN whisky (Bourbon-style corn whisky) from Okanagan Spirits.
He started his business while living in Ladner, continuing it when he moved to Oliver nearly four years ago.
Roxanne Greyeyes, of Corks and Bubbles, specializes in wine-related accessories and gifts. These include jewelry depicting wine glasses and bottles, as well as wine bags to carry your wine and give as gifts.
She makes the items herself and started the home-based business in Oliver less than a year ago, mostly selling online.
Nadia Wilson, of Oliver, has turned her passion for knitting, quilting, crocheting, sewing and beads into a business. She is one of the vendors at Oliver's Station Street Market. (Richard McGuire photo)
The Oliver market is still new, so it doesn’t yet attract the number of shoppers that some of the more established markets do, but vendors we spoke with say they’re happy with it.
“Come down and meet the community,” says Berkland of La Casa Bianca. “It’s got a nice vibe to it, a community feeling, so here I meet my neighbours. This is how we have fun and build our relationships.”
“It’s a nice market and it’s young,” says Stacey of Lone Willow Jellies. “I think it’s going to grow. We like to support it and we’re supporting local, so it’s good.”
Tim Ferguson, who owns Moody Essentials with his wife Lisa, shows off some of the skin care products they sell at the Station Street Market in Oliver. (Richard McGuire Photo)
“I love the market here,” says Shilo Schaur, from Greenwood, who sells freeze-dried candy. “I come here almost every couple of weeks. The people are great, and the atmosphere is fantastic. A lot of great vendors.”
Nadia Wilson, who crochets, knits, sews, quilts and makes things with beads shares a similar experience.
“Awesome,” she says. “It’s absolutely been fantastic. Lots of new friendships and tons of fun.”
Maureen McConaghy, who goes by the stage name of simply "Maureen" busks at the Station Street Market solo on a folk guitar. She also promotes herself as "Wilder than Her," taken from the title of a song by Canadian Americana singer/songwriter Fred Eaglesmith. (Richard McGuire Photo)
Smith of Smith Montpetit says it’s helped to introduce his products and he’s happy with the local support.
“I really like it a lot,” he says. “I do really well, and people are super interested in supporting and knowing about who we are and what we do and what’s different about our wine.”
Text and story by Richard McGuire
South Okanagan Chamber of Commerce
P.O. Box 1414, Oliver, BC V0H 1T0
(250) 498-6321