Cities hoping to reopen farmers markets
Municipalities planning how to control flow of foot traffic and maintain social distancing
St. Catharines, along with other municipalities in Niagara, is trying to come up with a way to safely reopen its downtown farmers market so fresh local fruit and vegetables can get to consumers.
But it won’t be a simple process. Social distancing, cashless transactions and safety barriers are all being considered.
“Obviously we want to do it in a very cautious and organized way, so that the vendors are safe and the residents who are coming,” said Mayor Walter Sendzik.
Sendzik said there’s no date for an opening yet but city staff have been working on a plan with public health. Market Square has been closed since the COVID-19 outbreak, along with other city facilities.
Sendzik said it’s important for the city to have a plan in place for transitioning to a “new normal” once it’s safe to do so.
At Market Square, that may mean hiring a security guard to limit the number of people entering the building. It may include plastic sheeting or barriers for vendors like at the grocery stores. And it may require the city to increase its bandwidth so vendors can use electronic cashless transactions.
“We’re going to open up Market Square at some time. Let’s figure out now what that looks like, rather then waiting until the last minute,” Sendzik said.
“It’s all about preparation today to get us to a point in time where we can quickly hit the switch, it’s open and people can come to Market Square.”
Phil Cristi, director of community, recreation and culture services, said the biggest challenge will be managing the crowds and creating social distance.
“The Market Square building is a fair size building but when you get a lot of people in there it doesn’t feel so large, so we really need to look at how traffic may flow,” he said.
There are many other issues as well, including whether people will expect curbside pickup or preorders and if vendors are ready for that kind of platform.
For farmers at Market Square, having enough customers to make new measures worthwhile will be key.
Bryan Durst of Bry-Anne Farms in Fenwick said there has to be enough margin to justify the time it takes to send a person to market all day. Will a reduced opportunity still be a viable opportunity?
“The reality is dynamic and we have no previous data set. You start running ‘what if’ scenarios and, quite frankly, they’re just purely speculation,” he said.
Durst said they do have a crop that needs to be sold in some type of manner that’s safe for the farmers and customers.
Dan DeVries of DeVries Fruit Farm in Fenwick said it’s hard to wrap heads around all the logistics and precautions that will have to be taken.
When the St. Catharines market was closed, the farm set up an online store so people can order, pay ahead and pick up at the farm. He said it would like to add a St. Catharines pickup option if the market reopens.
“Hopefully things start to turn around where it’s probably not going to be business as usual, but at least there’s going to be a few less hurdles to get the product to market and service the customers properly,” DeVries said.
Ken Todd, chief administrative officer for Niagara Falls, said his city hopes to open its market in late May or early June, but will revisit the issue during city council’s May 12 meeting.
“As it stands right now and depending on what extensions the premier may put on extending the emergency period, we were planning on looking at a late May, early June opening,” he said. “We’ll come back in a couple weeks and we’ll reassess it and if we need to make that decision and to postpone it further on into June, we will, but right now the talk is that, depending on what happens over the next couple weeks, if we’re able to open it, we would, but if we have to extend the delay, we’ll delay it further into June.”
Welland, for its part, has no plan to open the year-round farmers market that has been running for more than 100 years any time soon, said chief administrative officer Gary Long.
He said the municipality will “continue to follow and adhere to public health directives and make any decisions on this basis.”
Long said “the health and safety of vendors, market staff and the community is very important and a key consideration in any decision to reopen.”
Whether a city could reopen a farmers market ultimately depends on whether the provincial government considers it to be an essential service like a grocery store, said Dr. Mustafa Hirji, Niagara’s acting medical officer of health.
He said his department would have no particular objection to opening St. Catharines Market Square provided the stalls are spaced far enough apart, and the number of people allowed in at any given time are sufficient to allow for proper physical distancing.
“If that is done, then the risk you would face would be the same as when you go to the grocery store,” he said.