Advancing Crystal Beach responds to ‘crisis point’ with $7 pop-up market

A local non-profit is responding to rising food insecurity with an affordable pop-up produce market in Crystal Beach. The market by Advancing Crystal Beach is designed to provide fresh food at sharply reduced prices while preserving dignity for residents facing rising grocery costs and limited access.

The next pop-up market runs January 22 at Crystal Ridge Community Church on Elmwood Avenue, indoors, starting at 10 a.m., with food expected to be gone within about a half hour.

Scott Boumeester, president of Advancing Crystal Beach (ACB), told Fort Erie Radio the urgency of the program became clear during a previous market in November.

“I talked to a lady that was new to the market. She has two children and she is a single mother. She said to me, ‘Scott, this was the first time my children will have fresh fruit this year.’”

He said the goal of the market is to “uplift” people feeling the squeeze of inflation and food insecurity. The new model ACB has co-opted is meant to destigmatize the need for food and provide fresh, healthy options for the community.

“We do not make any money. We lose money every market. We are not in the game to make money. We are in the game to get more food into the hands of people that need it,” said Boumeester.

At the market, shoppers receive a bag and can fill it with staple produce for $7, including potatoes, cabbage, onions, carrots, turnips and broccoli, along with some fruit. Additional fruits such as apples, oranges and mangoes are sold individually at reduced prices.

Produce prices are at least 30 per cent lower than grocery stores due to bulk purchasing and donor subsidies through a partnership with Lococo’s, a Niagara Falls-based supplier with family ties to Crystal Beach.

The market does not require registration, proof of address or income screening.

“When people come in and they buy their own food, it is a different model. It uplifts them. They feel worthwhile because they are actually buying it with their own money instead of standing in line, registering, and feeling like it is a handout,” said Boumeester.

More than 50 people attended the market in January 2025, and Boumeester expects significantly more, predicting at least 40 families will be lined up by 10 a.m. next week.

According to income survey data in 2022, one in five households (20.7 per cent) in Niagara is food insecure, and 18.3 per cent of Niagara children and youth live in food-insecure households. Both of these figures are increasing.

“It is crisis point, it really is. When a mother tells you that her children are having fruit for the first time this year, it just breaks your heart,” said Boumeester.

ACB runs markets twice a month in summer and once a month in winter, all at Crystal Ridge Community Church with support from Pastor Frank Kiss and the church board, who provide the space.

The organization also receives support from United Way Niagara and Meridian Credit Union and collaborates with groups such as Strong Fort Erie Neighbourhoods and the Town of Fort Erie.

“It is not about us being the big fish in a little pond. It is about all of us swimming in the same pond and helping each other,” said Boumeester.

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