Fredericton Farmers Market Welcoming More Vendors Back This Weekend
FREDERICTON- After a year in a pandemic, a Saturday morning at Fredericton’s Boyce Farmers Market looks a bit different.
For the past few weeks, market coordinator Leslie Morrell and her team have been installing plexiglass shields on market stands.
“In order to be open, we had to go back to essentials until we got our barricades up,” she said
As of February 13th, to keep with public health guidelines, the market was limited to food and groceries only. Morrell has been working on getting back non-food vendors ever since. Once their stall has plexiglass, craft vendors are free to come back.
“Some were here last week, more will arrive this week, and by the end of next week, I’m hoping to have everyone back that we had before we had to ask them to take a little break.”
Morrell is relieved to see her vendors returning.
“We do not want to have to have anyone away from here that wants to be here,” she said.
This is another in a long line of extra precautions the market has taken on this year. To track capacity, employees are constantly on the radio, updating the number of people inside and outside the market. They rely on customers to use the designated exits.
“If we don’t know you’ve left, we can’t let more people in,” said Morrell.
For some vendors, like in-house breakfast place Chef Rick, restrictions have cut their number of customers. To allow for social distancing, seating has been reduced from 54 at a time to 18. To combat this loss, Chef Rick has started selling meals to-go.
“Everyone’s just doing the best they can,” said Morrell.
Even though vendors might not be making as much money as they were before Covid-19, this hasn’t swayed their market loyalty.
“They know the market was there for them for the last 40, 30, 20 years,” said Morrell. “They’ve been here for the market this time around.”
Morrell believes the importance of the market rests in its close relationship with local goods.
“We’ve got to get back to local and stop importing a lot of stuff,” she said. “We’ve got our farmers here, we’ve got our craft people here that we can buy from and they’re amazing.”
In the past, the market has been the go-to spot on Saturday mornings for people to browse the stalls while eating a donair or sipping a coffee.
“It’s the place for people to gather and for people to see one another,” said Morrell. “If you’re home on holiday this is where you come to meet your friends.”
For Morrell, the hardest pandemic change is having people rethink what it means to come to the market.
“We can’t do that anymore. We can’t come here and meet,” she said.
For now, customers need to shop then move on. However, many still keep up their Saturday morning ritual with plexiglass and masks in tow.
“They are keeping that tradition,” said Morrell. “They are coming and getting their coffee and then going home or going to another place in the market area where they can take off their mask and drink their coffee.”
Morrell looks forward to when the city’s meeting place is back to normal. For now, she welcomes more vendors back this Saturday from 7 a.m. until 1 p.m.
“The market has been here for 70 years and it’s not going anywhere,” said Morrell. “We are going to be just as strong as we were before Covid, if not stronger after Covid