Safety etiquette rolls out at farmer markets

WELLFLEET -- Farmers markets on the Lower and Outer Cape this year won't have the communal, social atmosphere we're used to, where you can sit around and chat for awhile, pick over the cucumbers and bring along your dog, because managers are applying strict protocols to ensure the safety of vendors, staff, volunteers and customers in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Some markets already are open and others are getting ready to launch in the next couple weeks. The new rules for operating these essential businesses are different, but they don't seem particularly daunting: wear a face covering, don't touch the merchandise, keep moving.

“Loitering and hanging out are not the ' M.O.' this year,” Orleans Farmers Market board member Heather Bailey said. “We all have to do our thing and behave.”

All of the markets have their vendors lined up, offering a broad range of fresh produce, meats and fish, as well as specialty items and plants.

“The demand for local food right now is through the roof,” Francie Randolph, founding director of Sustainable CAPE, said.

Although some have known it for a long time, she noted, “People are starting to realize the issues with having a food system run by only a few companies.” She stressed the need for safe access to healthful, local food.

Sustainable CAPE provides nutrition incentive funding and technical assistance to farmers’ markets assisting under-served groups, including veterans, schoolchildren, SNAP (food stamps) and WIC (Women and Infant Children) participants and senior citizens. The Truro Farmers’ Market linked with Orleans (the first farmers’ market on the Cape to run a nutrition incentive program). Together they formed the Sustainable CAPE Farmers' Market Coalition to share these programs widely. Now Provincetown, Truro, Wellfleet, Orleans, Brewster, Sandwich and Falmouth offer at least one Farmers’ Market nutrition incentive program (ask at each market’s Info Booth).

The organization’s Farmers Market Coalition has been sharing the coronavirus protocols with local markets across the Cape based on weekly calls Randolph has with the state commissioner of agriculture and other stakeholders. Her organizations also are working on ways to make pre-ordering at all the markets easier.

Most of the markets’ guidelines are similar and follow the U.S. and Massachusetts Departments of Agriculture and local health departments' protocols that require social distancing and safe hygiene practices; they also encourage alternative payment methods. Each market is adapting the guidelines to its specific location.

Here's a run-down describing what to expect:

Wellfleet

Wellfleet Farmers Market was the first to open, on May 13, from 8 a.m. to noon at 200 Main St., in the grove at the Wellfleet Congregational Church, and it plans to continue on Wednesdays through Oct. 7.

In her email to “Market Friends,” Market Manager Alyssa Staker outlined detailed guidelines: “Our market is going to look and feel a little different this season. Shopping will be entirely touchless, as vendors will handle and bag all food.”

Wellfleet market’s guidelines are a good example of what to expect at all farmers markets. It will require shoppers to wear a mask and gloves, and to social distance. The number of shoppers allowed at a vendor's stand at any one time may be limited.

Other rules include no reusable bags, no eating at the market, carrying out any garbage or recycling generated by the shopper, no use of bathrooms and no dogs.

Curbside pickup will be available by placing telephone orders with individual vendors that will be posted on the market’s website. Pick-up updates will be posted on Facebook and Instagram.

Wellfleet shoppers also are encouraged to minimize use of cash and consider alternative payment methods such as Venmo or PayPal accounts created before coming to the market. In lieu of the market’s annual spring seed swap, it is supporting the library’s efforts to get Seeds-By-Mail. For more information on that effort, email naomi.robbins@wellfleet-ma.gov. The market website is wellfleetfarmersmarket.com or email wellfleetfarmersmarket@gmail.com.

Orleans

Orleans Farmers Market opened May 23 and will run from 8 a.m. to noon until the Saturday before Thanksgiving in the tents off Old Colony Road. There will be live music, but no seating and social distancing, Bailey said.

One vendor only will occupy each space and there will be fewer vendors. Vendors will take online shopping orders and can bring goods to the car. Bailey said the large square footage of the market's space allows for more distancing options, such as delineating one-way tracks painted on the ground, ropes and plenty of signs. The market also will require no touch packaging and masks and not allow dogs.

Chatham

Chatham Farmers Market is set to open June 2 from 3 to 6:30 p.m. on Tuesdays through October next to the Ocean State Job Late on Route 28.

Market Director Kathy Sanders described the protocols. The market tent will have only one entrance and a limited number of customers wearing masks will be guided in one direction. Shields will be set up at every vendor booth for only one customer at a time. Curbside pickup for pre-orders at a separate orange tent will be “very regulated and flow-oriented,” Sanders said. “We prefer people to call in orders and pay with a credit card.”

Sanders expects to have 25 to 30 vendors offering a wide range of food, including ethnic dishes and meat.

“Processing meat plants are not a problem in Massachusetts,” she said. “It’s really important to keep the community healthy and safe and the farmer community stable.”

More information and vendors’ phone numbers can be found at localcolorchatham.com/farmers-market.

Harwich

Harwich Farmers Market will open Thursday, June 11, from 3 to 6 p.m. and continue through the first week of October at the Brooks Academy, 80 Parallel St.

Marie Kesten Zahn, director of the Harwich Historical Society that runs the market, said plans to expand with additional vendors and products this year have been postponed.

The layout will be changed with clearly marked entrance and exit points, limiting access to 15 customers at a time and a designated space for waiting in line. The market will not be using tablecloths in order to make cleaning and disinfecting easier. The market is encouraging pre-packaged produce when possible and suggesting vendors consider taking advance orders.

Visit harwichhistoricalsociety.org for more information.

Brewster

Brewster Farmers Market, run by the Brewster Historical Society, is planning curbside pickup for online orders only at Windmill Village, Drummer Boy Park, on Route 6A. Historical society President Sally Gunning said the society board is waiting for approval from the town on its curbside pickup plan before it can determine the opening date.

In the meantime, its Farmers Market Delivered program continues. Customers can order weekly from three sizes of boxes packed with food that varies from week to week and delivered to a home address. Orders and payment are made on the historical society website for Brewster, Harwich, Dennis, Orleans and Eastham residents only.

The summer market generally opens in late June on Sundays from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. to September. Check brewsterhistoricalsociety.org or its Facebook or Instagram pages for updated information.

Truro

Truro Educational Farmers’ Market will open Monday, June 22, 8 a.m. to noon, through Aug. 27 at Veterans Memorial Park, 20 Truro Center Road, with the same strict safety standards, Randolph said.

However, Truro will be both a pre-order and on-site purchase model. All vendors using pre-orders will have two lines (7 feet apart) in front of their tents with priority for pre-orders. The market has art and education throughout, created largely by local schoolchildren in the gardening program.

Nutrition incentives accepted at the Truro, Provincetown and Orleans markets include: doubling SNAP purchases up to $10 a week, doubling WIC and senior discount coupons up to $10 a week, Fresh Kid’s awards and HIP reimbursements for fruits and vegetables and Project Gratitude’s $10 gift to veterans. More information at sustainablecape.org/programs/truro-farmers-market.

Provincetown

Provincetown Educational Farmers’ Market scheduled opening is Saturday, June 13, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. through Oct. 31 on Ryder Street by Town Hall.

It will be a test for a new pre-order only system, Randolph said. It will be spread out to ensure everyone can properly distance, have staggered pick-up times, a clear entrance and exit and a limited number of people entering at one time. Only one person at a time can approach a vendor's tent.

Randolph’s repeated message for now can apply to all the farmers markets: “Don’t shop when sick, shop singly, respect the 6-foot distance at all times. Arrive, make purchases and head home, use the pre-order system to expedite shopping, wear a mask and no lingering. With this messaging we anticipate fewer people staying for less time while we hope to maintain or increase farmer sales. While we very are excited to see everyone and wave from a distance, we also want to follow closely the Health and Human Services guidelines for farmers markets and ensure continued and safe access to healthful local food.”