Hamilton Day kicks off at downtown farmers market to celebrate small businesses

Hamilton Day has kicked off at the Hamilton Farmers’ Market in the downtown core to celebrate the city and small businesses in the area.

Officials associated with the annual event say Hamilton Day is a chance to get a taste of local flavours, explore the city, shop local and even enjoy live entertainment.

“Shop local. It’s more important now than ever,” said Greg Dunnett, president and CEO of the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce. “It’s Canada’s largest annual shop local event. And it’s about celebrating our city, but also ensuring we support all the small businesses that make our community so great.”

Dunnett says the event originated in the Great Depression as an effort to boost and support the small business community across Hamilton. He adds it was brought back to life in 2021 and has been running annually since.

“Historically we’ve seen about $7 million to $8 million in economic impact from this one day, which is an incredible feat. And we’re going to try and beat that every single year,” said Dunnett.

Hamilton East—Stoney Creek MPP Jeff Beattie was at the event and emphasized how important it is to support local businesses.

“It’s super important to come out and support our local businesses here in Hamilton. It is great to see this revival and I know that the provincial government 100 per cent has offered support for this,” said Beattie.

Hamilton Day runs until Nov. 1.

More information about the event can be found on the event website.

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