to market, to market

It is all farmland around the hamlet of Keady and the place itself is really, really small. Apart from the two cross roads (county roads [Grey] 3 and 16) 

there are only two other streets with maybe a couple dozen houses and a couple hundred inhabitants.

there is a church

and even a restaurant

but we are visiting on Tuesday - when it is market day.

I had been told, as an aside while at the cottage I was visiting, that there was a farmer's market. Nothing could have prepared me for this place. I had naively thought it might be nice to go to a farmer's market that was truly local (as opposed to goods being trucked into a city market as I am used to) though pretty much every community in Grey-Bruce has a farmer's market on one day of the week. But none are quite like this one.

it is more than a farmer's market, or even a livestock market. it is also a flea market. and antiques market. and, some might say, a junk market. on a good weather day - because this is all outdoors and held rain or shine - there could be up to 250 vendors. in other words, there could be more vendors than residents, then add the thousands of people wandering through...

some vendors were helping out neighbours in Owen Sound (10 miles away) where recently a spate of arson had destroyed ten homes

This place is huge. I have now wandered it four times (and still not made it into the livestock market) and every year, though I now have some favourite vendors, there is always something new to see. I'm not sure how the real locals feel about this weekly event that draws thousands of tourists. The size of the market grounds, including the field for parking all those hundreds of cars, is larger than the area devoted to the residents of Keady itself. If you do go to the market, make sure to stop for a bite to eat at Maria's, the only restaurant in town, before you leave.

see a marketplace of walks at Restless Jo's
and Monday Escapes

and more signs at signs, signs