The night before a planned end-of-season thank you sale, the Cassidy Farm Market near Nanaimo burned down and most of the products inside were lost in the fire.
Now, a long-time employee of the Cassidy Farm Market, which was operated this year by the Stray Moat Farm Market, has launched a GoFundMe with the goal of paying back the local artists who lost work in the fire, and then supporting the Stray Moat Farm owners to continue to “bring real Island food to the Vancouver Island community.”
“The Stray Moat owners, Whirly and Sabrina, were only renting the building & are stuck with a massive loss of unique local art, produce, equipment, and many other items,” the GoFundMe says. “That, as well as winter quickly approaching, has left them in an extremely difficult spot financially.”
Whirly and Sabrina shared the GoFundMe on Facebook and used the opportunity to thank the farmers, makers, bakers and artists who connected with them to sell their goods in the store. This was the first season running the Stray Coastal Moat Market in the building.
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The owner of the building, Grant Fong, told CHEK News on Oct. 4 that the building that was destroyed had “a lot of great family 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.”
Laura Brougham
