Red Deer is a fantastic city. It grows on me just a bit more by the day. Every once in a while, I come across great little hidden gems in town, brought to fruition by local minds and driven by our local support. Sometimes I find these hotspots, and have an opportunity to meet the person behind the scenes, and learn a bit about the history and the ideas that help shape our city for the future. With a number of great locally conceived businesses in Red Deer, I thought it only fitting to start posting information about my finds so that you may also check them out and help support local businesses and keep our money in the community. This week’s feature will be my first, but definitely not my last, spotlight on one of Red Deer’s up and coming local businesses: Big Bend Market.
Big Bend Market is located in the Southpointe Commons area of Red Deer, directly off of Gaetz Ave and 19 St (located at the south end of town). The store also operates a North End location, which typically accommodates larger-scale orders and requests, but also is open to the general public. Big Bend has been in operation now for 3 years, and is quickly becoming one of my favorite stores in town, for a number of reasons:
1. They have a variety of delicious home-made breads
2. They make the best lunch sandwiches in town
3. All of their meats are local. Whether from Innisfail, Bowden, Sylvan Lake or Rocky Mountain House, all of the products are coming from within our region.
4. All of the meats are hormone and antibiotic free, meaning higher quality meats brought up under healthier conditions which cause lower incidences of infections / cancer in humans (hooray!)
5. Buying locally not only supports and keeps money within our community, it also means a lower impact on the environment with respect to carbon output from transportation.
I had the opportunity to meet Ivan Smith, owner of Big Bend, a couple months back. I had been tossing around the idea of doing local spotlights on my blog and just hadn’t had the time to get rolling with it, much less try and track down the owners of each business I wanted to support. After chatting with Ivan I knew that this was something I needed to get working on. Ivan is soft-spoken yet friendly, and a very hard working guy. You can tell that he really enjoys, and believes in, what he does.
Big Bend carries a variety of different meats, primarily Bison, Beef, Poultry, Pork, Lamb, Elk and more. Since we are finally into grilling season, now may be a good time to pick up something for your next outdoor bbq or friendly gathering!
For location, hours of operation, and all things Big Bend, please check out their brand new FACEBOOK PAGE!
MW
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