Farmers’ markets to reopen
Market lovers fiending for the chance to get their hands on homegrown produce and artisan fare will be in luck this weekend.
Under level 2, farmers’markets will reopen to the masses, but managers assure social distancing measures and crowd control will be enforced.
Palmerston North’s Hokowhitu Farmers’market will feature up to 30 stalls from 9am to 1pm on Sunday after the monthly attraction was locked out in April.
Organiser Robin Fischer was excited for his market to get up and running again, and measures would be in place to abide by level 2 guidelines.
Customers will enter the market at a designated entrance from Albert St, where patrons will be asked to sign a form and clean their hands before making their way through the stalls and exiting at the other end.
Fischer said it was important that if a case of Covid-19 broke out, organisers would be able to identify anyone who visited the market.
Up to 75 people may be on site at a time, with amaximum group size of 10 people for those attending the market.
Fischer would be educating people as they came through the cordon about safe distancing and the handling of goods.
It was essential the market reopened so small business owners could try to make back takings lost during the lockdown, he said.
Feilding’s weekly farmers’ market will return to Manchester Square from 9am today, adopting similar rules as the Hokowhitu market.
A hard line would be taken on people looking to handle produce, organiser Steph Strahan said. It wouldn’t be allowed.
Stall-holders already had an alert level 2market under their belts just before the coronavirus lockdown in March, so had already practised handling the crowd under restrictions.
‘‘It’s quite a big responsibility to be in a public space and we don’t take that lightly. We’re really relying on people to be sensible and ... a little bit more kind and respectful towards everyone.’’
Strahan hoped reopening the market could help small businesses struggling to survive through the Covid-19 pandemic.
Nathan Gillard, affectionately known as ‘‘the honey guy’’, has been trading at the Hokowhitu Farmers’market for about 18 months.
Throughout levels 4 and 3 he’s been delivering his raw Gillard Honey products to regulars across the greater Palmerston North area.
Although most of his sales were online and in outlet stores, Gillard was excited to be able to share his products again with the community, face to face.
He anticipated salesmay not be as high as previous months, but the market was asmuch about social interaction as selling honey. ‘‘Reopening the market is a step closer towards normality for people in the community.’’