Farmers Market Update

Leigh asked about the farmers market. 

It's up and running again, but in "safe mode", as hubby calls it. Here's some of the changes......

..... Vendor tents are now spaced 30' apart. This gives very spacious aisleways so that people don't bunch up. 

..... I can fit 25 vendors into the space that I had been able to fit 44 before, along with the music and demonstration areas, which have been completely eliminated. And there is no coffee truck taking up the space either. The coffee truck is pau. The owner has decided to shut the business down.

..... There is no longer free access into the market area from the parking lots. Everyone must enter and exit via one controlled entry point. 

..... There is a hand sanitation station at the entry. Everyone must sanitize their hands every time they enter and re-enter (even the vendors). The market provides the sanitizer. You're wearing gloves? They must get sanitized too. 

..... Masks and hand sanitation are required for entry, even if you're a vendor. Don't want to wear a mask? No problem -- you just won't be allowed in. I've already had to turn people away. And it didn't bother me one iota. I've been called a nazi, Hitler, gestopo, and the most popular - a bitch. No worries, you still can't come in. Not my problem. 

..... Social distancing is required and enforced. 

..... There is a grounds security person who enforces market rules. Violate them and you will be corrected. Ignore the security person and you're evicted. Call him a piece of shit and you're banned from the market. Vendors are not immune from being banned. And I'm not shy about calling in the police if needed. 

..... Market hours are 8 to noon. That's a bit shorter than before in order to discourage lunch people from sitting at the market to eat their meals. The prepared food is intended to be for carry out. 

..... The number of days has been expanded from once a week to 3 days. The market now operates on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. This is for two reasons. 1- all the vendors could not be accommodated on one day, and 2- my goal is to have no more than 50 customers on the grounds at anyone particular time. To achieve this I needed to spread things out. 

..... Up until this past week, the only things allowed to be offered for sale were food related and covid-19 support items.  Nothing else. Just this week our county mayor stated that certain other sales were now allowable, which includes jewelry & repairs, books, and apparel. So after working with the county civil defense, the market got approval to expand its offerings as long as we strictly adhered to the rules. And we have and shall continue to do that. Yeah, just call me "the bitch", but I get the last laugh because our market will be open. And we are probably the safest retail place in our district. 

The other manager (she runs the Monday and Friday market days) set up a Facebook page for the market. She's been posting videos of the market day, doing a quick walk through. It's for you to enjoy and see what our little endeavor looks like. Plus it helps the county officials keep an eye on us. And importantly, it helps us monitor violations and correct them. Yeah, I've spotted some violations via the video.....people think they're safe doing it behind my back. Ha, caught ya!!!  

Check us out on Facebook.    O Kau' Kakou Market 

(To our Hawaiian friends, yes its misspelled. The okina is in the wrong location. "J" made a mistake and we haven't gotten around to trying to change it.)