Can’t touch the produce?

I am prompted to write after reading in the Sun-Times about longtime vendor Nichols Farm being kicked out of the Wicker Park Farmers Market. I love my Division Street Saturday farmers market, though this year it definitely is smaller. I understand and applaud COVID protocols — making sure that the number of people in the market is kept to a reasonable level, that everyone wear a mask, that people keep moving.

What I cannot understand is the regulation that patrons cannot touch the produce. Why?

The market is literally in front of a Jewel grocery store. I can walk into the store and touch all the produce I want, yet I cannot touch the produce outside. This makes no sense. Because patrons can’t pick out their own items, it falls on the staff at each booth to do the choosing, weighing, collecting money, etc. This has resulted in long lines at booths and more congregating than necessary, and it seems to really be stressing out patrons and staff.

This protocol is having the exact opposite effect of what it was meant to do. Lynn Nealis, River North