Donate! Support your community news.
Subscribe! News delivered to your inbox.
NEWS

Update From Davidson Farmers Market

by | Jul 16, 2020 | Davidson Farmers Market, News, Nonprofits

Davidson Farmers’ Market re-opened for full business on July 11 – with a variety of COVID-19 restrictions in place.

Hello DFM Shoppers,

Wow! Last Saturday was wild, such an amazing turnout. I know our vendors were thrilled to see everyone, new and familiar faces. It has been such a long time, it was amazing to see the market full with so many shoppers.

Masks for all ages for this this family outing.

I would like to thank everyone who showed up and followed DFM’s guidelines to make the market safe and healthy for everyone. The amount of respect for one another and our vendors was truly appreciated. I know change is hard, we’ve been doing nothing but change for five months continuously. Adapting to new suggestions and becoming comfortable with social distance and wearing masks.

We have worked many hours, some late into the night, planning for DFM’s reopen and thinking how can we keep the market going and still ensure everyone’s safety. Wearing masks is the most important thing we can do right now, but we also know that not everyone can wear them. And we certainly do not want that to prevent shoppers from accessing local foods and goods.

Shoppers made their way past the Blue Barn Bistro food truck to check out the vendors on the other side of the parking lot.

That is why DFM implemented TWO options for shoppers who cannot wear masks for medical reasons. 1) most vendors offer pre-ordering and shoppers that wish to not enter the market to pick-up their pre-order can go to the Market Tent (the red tent by the entrance) and have a volunteer pick-up their order for them, and 2) our volunteers can serve as personal shoppers for folks who are without a mask. Just give us a list and we will do the shopping for you.

We also know that we’re not always going to get it right the first time, reopening is a process and there might be ideas we have that just don’t work once everyone is there and the market is running.

One of those ideas that needed a readjustment is the one-way flow of traffic. We still want to create that for social distancing purposes, but we opened up a few areas for cross foot traffic if shoppers do not need to walk all the way around to shop. Also, we created a second exit at the bottom of the Jackson Street parking lot for shoppers who are done shopping and would like to exit without having to walk all the way back up the hill.

As we continue to get comfortable being reopen, we will continue to make the market the best it can possibly be. We are so very thankful for our vendors and shoppers and especially are amazing volunteers who wake up early to setup the much more labor involved market and assist our shoppers during the market.

When visiting the market, please do not hesitate to ask one of our volunteers or staff (we’re in the lime colored shirts) for help. We are here for you!

Happy eating,
Justin

Support Your Community News