FARMERS MARKET OPENS

Open Saturday, June 20 from 8:30 a.m.-noon -- Social distancing, hand sanitizer and hand washing, masks available

    HARLAN -- The Harlan Farmers Market will open for business on Saturday, June 20, in the parking lot of the former Hometown Shopko building on Chatburn Ave.
    The farmers market will operate from 8:30 a.m. until noon each Saturday through October 31. Starting July 8, it will also be open on Wednesdays from 3:30-6:00 p.m.
    According to Elaine Baughman, who has managed the Harlan Farmers Market for “22 or 23 years,” this year’s starting date is pretty typical. However, there will be a few new safety measures in place in conjunction with COVID-19 health guidelines.
    • Vendors will be wearing masks as much as possible and buyers are encouraged to do so as well.
    • A wash station with hand sanitizer will be provided.
    • Customers are asked to not touch the food unless they are buying it.
    • Please leave the kids and all pets at home.
    “It will be a no-touch policy, at least to start with,” Baughman said. “We would like one person per family, just to cut down on the number of people. We’d certainly like to see things relaxed as the season goes by.
    “Lots of hand washing, lots of hand sanitizer, social distancing. That’s probably the biggest thing. We as vendors are going to at least attempt to wear a mask. Sometimes when it’s hot out there that’s going to be tough, but we’ve also got face shields that we have purchased so we think that maybe that will work. We’ll do the best that we can to try to distance and make ourselves safe.”
    “Everybody’s got to go through the drill,” added Russ Baughman, who helps his wife Elaine plant and cultivate their three-and-a-half acre garden southeast of Kirkman.
    In addition to the safety precautions already noted, some vendors will be accepting credit or debit cards to minimize the exchange of “cash” at the point of sale.
    In the case of two-person vendors, one might handle the food while another takes care of the money.
    Elaine Baughman noted that SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) will also be accepted this year by at least two vendors at the Harlan Farmers Market.
    The list of food items sold at the market most years includes: onions, garlic, peas, beans, snow peas, radishes, lettuce, rhubarb, cherries, strawberries, red and gold potatoes, cucumbers, summer squash, eggplant, tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, sweet corn and eventually melons, winter squash and pumpkins later in the season.
    Cookies, pies, cinnamon rolls, jams, jellies and honey are available as well.
    Elaine is also the market manager for the Denison Farmers Market, which will be held in the Do It Best parking lot on Thursdays (starting July 9) from 3:00-6:00 p.m. She also helps out with a movable farm stand in Kimballton, which will start Monday, July 6, and run from 4:00-6:00 p.m.
    Elaine says she welcomes “the challenge” each year of growing quality fresh food to keep people coming back to the market.
    “Russ loves the people at market day and seeing customers year after year,” she said. “(For me), there’s just something about working the garden in the spring. The garden is my happy place and I just love that. We have more, obviously, than we can eat ourselves, so we evolved into the market.”

 
 

 

Harlan Newspapers

1114 7th Street
P.O. Box 721
Harlan, IA 51537-0721

(800) 909-6397
news2@harlanonline.com

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