Western Pa. farmers markets to open with covid-19 twists, precautions
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There will be no Saturday morning chatter among friends picking up produce and other goodies at the Lynch Field farmers market in Greensburg.
Exercisers won’t stream out of the Aerobic Center to get in line with empty reusable bags.
Instead, shoppers will stay in their vehicles in the parking lot and drive up to vendors’ tents with the help of printed maps.
Farmer Paul Sarver said he knows “it’s going to be weird.” Saturday’s opening day will come with unusual, but necessary, restrictions as the community deals with the coronavirus pandemic.
“People are just going to have to be patient,” he said.
Farmers markets across the region are grappling with how to adjust their operations to get food into households while observing government-mandated social distancing in an effort to slow the spread of the virus. The markets are considered essential and some vendors can accept government food assistance benefits.
Hannah Smith-Brubaker, executive director of the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture, encouraged purchases from farmers markets as a way to support local producers. Organizers can consider a variety of options, including taking orders and payment before the market day, packing items up and having them available for pickup, she said.
“We’re recommending any way that they can get orders ahead of time,” Smith-Brubaker said.
Shoppers at the Lynch Field market, which has been at that location for about 20 years, will get a map of vendors and can drive up to those they want to visit, while bypassing others, Sarver said. One person at each stand will fill orders and a second will take payment. Vendors will be about 10 feet apart from each other, and customers are asked to wear masks. The market will be open 9 a.m.-noon.
“There’ll be enough room for people to pull off or go past at each stand,” he said.
Because it is early in the growing season, Sarver said his farm will have vegetable plants and eggs. Others will be selling microgreens, meat, baked goods, honey and other items. There is room for more vendors who produce locally to join, he said.
Clients for his community supported agriculture pickups through Sarver Hill Farm have increased by 30% this year, showing that customers are looking locally to get food during the pandemic, he said.
“It’s always been important to support local, but I think people are realizing about the food chain, how valuable it can be,” he said. “Here at the farm … I’m seeing a lot more people coming up this time of year than I’ve ever seen.”
The farm’s second market on Business Route 66 will open May 14. There will not be a market near the Greensburg post office this year.
Organizers in Pittsburgh’s Bloomfield neighborhood have been getting creative since canceling their last winter market on March 21, said market manager Abi Gildea of Bloomfield Development Corp. When the Saturday morning market reopens in a parking lot on Liberty Avenue in a couple weeks, “it’ll look a lot different,” she said.
There may be a line to get in, depending on the amount of shoppers, and volunteers will be doing crowd control with added signage, handwashing stations and extra distance between vendors and customers, she said. A lot of consideration went into adjusting the market’s operations, said Christina Howell, corporation executive director.
“You need to really think about how to basically put a 12-foot bubble around a person and move them through a space,” she said.
They are looking at an online purchasing option and pickup, but will continue with the market to serve those who have SNAP benefits. The market is one of several Allegheny County sites where Pittsburgh-based organization Just Harvest provides an extra $2 to buy fruit and vegetables for shoppers who spend $5 in SNAP benefits.
Other markets with later openings have a little more time to formulate a plan.
Tarentum Farmers Market is set to open June 10. How the market will operate at the First United Presbyterian Church remains to be seen, said manager Jean Lombardo. Organizers are considering different options in an ever-changing situation.
“I thought we would wait until May to see what the environment was like and make some decisions at that point in time,” she said. “Things are changing. We’ll have to see if Pennsylvania comes out with anything.”