After the full lockdown, everyone has been eager for things to get back to normal. Most impatient of all would be the craftspeople whose livelihoods depend on public gatherings, like farmer's markets. -Ayo Thomas, 11th Grade
According to Vegetable Growers News, many farmer's markets in California are seeing an uneven recovery, including the ones close to home. A survey of several vendors at the Grand Lake market revealed that farmer's market vendors aren’t particularly worried about current mask protocols.
Most outdoor markets didn’t close during the lockdown except for at the very height of the pandemic. Despite the emergence of new Covid variants, one vendor, the co-owner of Go Nutz for the People says, “Being in an outside environment, I feel that it should be more choice related.” Another vendor, the owner of a body care business called Sweet Treats Body Care, had a similar take on things. “A lot of people are very against the masks and a lot of people are very pro mask, but I think it’s really good to have it be optional.”
While covid may not be affecting the safety of the market, it’s definitely put a dent in profits. The pandemic has made people wary of leaving their homes and fewer people have been shopping in person. However, with the vaccine making people feel safer this has been changing. When asked how far their profits fell during the pandemic, the owner of Go Nutz said, “I would say pre covid probably by about twenty percent.” Some businesses had it even worse, like Marshall's Honey Farm. A conversation with a long-term employee revealed that “there’s been a lot of ups and downs with the bees because it’s the kind of business that’s reliant on a species.”
This employee has also taken two other jobs because recently the honey business doesn’t pay that well. Marshalls experienced a dramatic decrease in profits as a result of losing business with closed restaurants. “When the restaurants closed, that was a really big loss for us. So that meant we needed to get into more grocery stores and more farmer's markets.” Marshalls lost nearly a third of its profits during the pandemic, and have just recently begun to recover.
It wasn’t all bad news though, several businesses also started during the pandemic. Working from home gave people more time to focus on their hobbies. The owner of Sweet Treats originally began her business about three years ago, at the very beginning of the pandemic. They’re now a full-time vendor both in-person and online. Hopefully, all of these amazing vendors will be seeing a quick recovery in sales.
Most outdoor markets didn’t close during the lockdown except for at the very height of the pandemic. Despite the emergence of new Covid variants, one vendor, the co-owner of Go Nutz for the People says, “Being in an outside environment, I feel that it should be more choice related.” Another vendor, the owner of a body care business called Sweet Treats Body Care, had a similar take on things. “A lot of people are very against the masks and a lot of people are very pro mask, but I think it’s really good to have it be optional.”
While covid may not be affecting the safety of the market, it’s definitely put a dent in profits. The pandemic has made people wary of leaving their homes and fewer people have been shopping in person. However, with the vaccine making people feel safer this has been changing. When asked how far their profits fell during the pandemic, the owner of Go Nutz said, “I would say pre covid probably by about twenty percent.” Some businesses had it even worse, like Marshall's Honey Farm. A conversation with a long-term employee revealed that “there’s been a lot of ups and downs with the bees because it’s the kind of business that’s reliant on a species.”
This employee has also taken two other jobs because recently the honey business doesn’t pay that well. Marshalls experienced a dramatic decrease in profits as a result of losing business with closed restaurants. “When the restaurants closed, that was a really big loss for us. So that meant we needed to get into more grocery stores and more farmer's markets.” Marshalls lost nearly a third of its profits during the pandemic, and have just recently begun to recover.
It wasn’t all bad news though, several businesses also started during the pandemic. Working from home gave people more time to focus on their hobbies. The owner of Sweet Treats originally began her business about three years ago, at the very beginning of the pandemic. They’re now a full-time vendor both in-person and online. Hopefully, all of these amazing vendors will be seeing a quick recovery in sales.
