Kelowna farmer's market holds first outdoor event of the year
Plastic wrapped produced lined the stalls and gloved vendors greeted customers for the first outdoor Kelowna Farmers' and Crafters' Market of the season.
After careful preparation, the market was given the green light to hold an outdoor market Saturday.
Working with Interior Health and the City of Kelowna, market coordinator Frances Callaghan said organizers knew Wednesday that the market was able to proceed. Washing stations were set up and lines were drawn to ensure social distancing recommendations were followed during the event Saturday.
“Most of sales were by credit cards and prepaid orders,” Callaghan said.
With a limit on 15 vendors, the first outdoor market had 12 vendors set up at Parkinson Recreation Centre.
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“It went quite well. Our vendors were quite please, especially since we didn’t do any advertising,” Callaghan said.
Most of the vendors have been contacting customers directly, but the challenge has been finding a place to pick up the produce, she said.
In three hours, they had more than 250 customers, she said. They were careful to keep a limit of under 50 people at any time, she said.
They plan to continue the market based on a week to week basis at Parkinson Recreation Centre, she said, and the market’s website will have what vendors will be there beforehand.
“The demand is there, the spinach is coming and kale is coming and we have to get it to our customers,” she said.
People will have to change their mindsets though, as the market won’t look like it normally does, Callaghan said.
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