By: James Morgan
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (UATV) – After over a year of online ordering and workarounds, the Fayetteville farmers market is back in person at the Fayetteville Town Square on Saturday mornings.
The farmers market received a special permit from the city to return to the square on March 20, just over a year after the pandemic moved the market online.
Teresa Maurer, the vendor coordinator and co-manager of the Fayetteville Farmers Market said this is just a return for the in-person market, with the online market set to continue.
“We never really stopped,” said Maurer. “We just stopped our in-person market, we had an online market that continued during the winter and will continue even with the in-person market back on the square.”
The online market allows anyone to order their produce online from Sunday until Wednesday morning, with pick-up times Thursday evening.
“It’s really just giving our vendors a chance to sell more than just on the square on Saturdays,” said Maurer.
Seasonal produce at the farmers market is just getting started with salad greens, radishes and flowers as the current primary offerings.
Dripping Springs Garden, one of the market’s vendors, shifted their distribution to an community supported agriculture subscription service.
“We’ve kind of made up the difference with our other outlets,” said Adam Gifford, a worker for Dripping Springs Garden.
Though the market has not had the attendance it would normally have, Maurer said the people visiting the market are purchasing goods at a higher rate than during a normal year.
“The people that are there are there to buy,” said Maurer. “Often in a regular market season we find that maybe only half the people there are there to buy, the rest are there to look or socialize.”
Maurer also said lower turnout is better than last year when customers and income were both down about 50 percent.
Adam Gifford with Dripping Springs said he is seeing the market gradually become more like normal.
“It’s not quite the atmosphere it was pre-COVID, but we’re starting to head that way,” said Gifford.
The market is also opening a weekday market on Tuesdays starting this May. This mid-week option will open at 7 a.m. and close at 1 p.m. and it marks the start of a return to the pre-pandemic routine of three in person markets a week.