Outdoor farmers markets expect to open a few weeks later than normal

Farmers markets across Iowa are on hold as they are unable to meet given the prohibition on groups of more than 10 people.

Some markets are making plans to open later in the summer, while others are focusing on finding new ways to reach their customers.

Bob Shepherd, Washington's Farmers Market Master, said the start date of Washington's market has so far been pushed back from mid-May until Thursday, May 28, or possibly even the Thursday after that, June 4.

Shepherd plans a number of changes to the market this year designed to keep Central Park as sanitary as possible and stop the spread of the virus. He has arranged for four hand-washing stations, operated by a foot-pump, to be set up in the park. He will have vendors be 30 feet apart, and restrict customers to the sidewalk.

'This is a whole new world we're entering,” Shepherd said. 'I'm working on signs to put on the entrance to the park that say, if you feel ill, do not enter.”

Though it has encouraged them in the past, Washington's farmers market will not allow reusable bags. Instead, plastic bags courtesy of Farm Bureau have been donated for customers to use. Vendors will be required to wear a mask, and customers will be encouraged to do so as well.

One of the major changes to Washington's market is that there will not be any crafters, which Shepherd said account for just under one-third of the market's booths. Only those vendors who sell produce or sanitary supplies such as soap will be permitted.

What's more, Shepherd said some of the changes he has planned will likely remain in effect even after the coronavirus has passed.

'Some of them are just good steps we probably should have been doing all along, like encouraging hand-washing,” Shepherd said. 'We also want to encourage people to wash their produce when they take it home.”

Music and special events are off the table, at least in the early part of the season. Events later in the year, like the salsa contest in August, might go on just as in years' past, but it's too soon to say. Shepherd said he's got a few ideas in the works that aren't ready to implement just yet, like a plan to have curbside pickup.

'They could give somebody a list of what they want, and they wouldn't have to get out of their car,” Shepherd said. 'We're looking into that.”

Reeta Murphy, the market manager and president of the Fairfield Farmer's Market Board, said her market is suspended indefinitely. Fairfield has a year-round market that meets indoors from November through April, and then outside at Howard Park during the warm months of the year. It was supposed to make its outdoor debut Saturday, May 2, but that looks doubtful.

'I talked to a state official this morning,” Murphy said on April 20, 'and he assured me that the state is working diligently on new guidelines for outdoor markets. But until they give us the go ahead, I can't allow it to go on.”

Gov. Kim Reynolds banned meetings of 10 or more in mid-March. Local municipalities have limited the use of city parks, too. Even so, Murphy said the market wouldn't be held anyway because she and other market masters are discouraged from having people gather at all.

'We're not supposed to be inviting people to meet us in a parking lot or any other location,” Murphy said. 'We can individually sell to customers, but they must come to our farms and gardens. People who frequent the market tell me, ‘You could have it at this person's home,' but they don't understand. We're not allowed to gather, period. I have a 7.5-acre farm. We could easily set up in my front yard if it were allowed, but it's not. We could end up in serious trouble.”

The Fairfield Farmer's Market is stressing that customers can still get the produce and baked goods they crave, they just have to go to the vendors' home. Murphy and others have been doing all they can to publicize the phone numbers and addresses of individual vendors.

Vicki Messer, market manager for the Mt. Pleasant Farmer's Market, said her market's opening date was supposed to be May 16 at McMillan Park, but that probably won't happen.

'Right now, I'm looking at June 6 as the tentative kickoff date,” she said. 'But we don't know if we'll be able to sell just the essentials like baked goods and produce. We've ruled out crafters and musicians.”

Mt. Pleasant's farmers market meets during the summer from 4-6 p.m. Wednesdays and from 8:30-11 a.m. Saturday.

Messer said she is recommending to her vendors that they sell their produce online, so at least it doesn't go to waste. Murphy said she has signed up for an online course on Community Supported Agriculture. In a CSA, customers are promised a certain amount of produce from a vendor every week during the harvest season. Murphy said she planned to turn a portion of her acreage into a garden to grow vegetables for the farmers market. But now that the future of the market is in jeopardy, she hopes she can sell the vegetables through a CSA.

'I'm encouraging other farmers to set up a CSA or become part of ours,” Murphy said.