A week into Phase 1 of re-opening, blue skies and sunshine brought shoppers out again in force this weekend. WHQR spent Saturday morning at the farmers market.
It’s now under the bridge. The Riverfront Farmers Market, which used to sprawl along the river downtown, has moved to the parking lot next to Waterline Brewing between Front and Surry Streets.
If you’re a vendor, you have to wear a mask. For customers it’s optional. Maria works for Wild Meadow Farm.
“So we mainly sell at the market and it just opened. It should have opened in March.”
“So that puts you kind of behind?”
“Yes. Also, all the plants we had started, we weren't able to sell those things.”
Timing is everything when it comes to growing and selling produce. Chris Dean is also with Wild Meadow Farm.
“And a lot of it's the logistic issue of, with a lot of this stuff we have to plan so far in advance as far as what we're going to sell or whatever. So not knowing when or if we were going to be able to do market made it very difficult to get the planning right. So now we're stuck in a position where market is back on, but we're kind of having to play catch up now that we do have some directions since we kind of didn't have that.”
Other vendors at the market mentioned the same issue: the delayed opening meant losing their early season crops. Vince Winkel, WHQR News.