After two weeks of operation as a drive-thru market only, the Bridgeport Farmer’s Market will be open for walk-thru traffic on Sunday, May 31.

 

Market hours are from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

 

There will still be social distancing and other guidelines in place and pre-orders are still recommended, however this is another step for market organizers to accommodate customers while world deals with the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

“The first two weeks were way smoother than what we thought they would be,” Bridgeport Farmers Market President Amanda Workman said. “Everybody was great. The first week there were about 100 people. There was definitely less the second week, but I think a big reason for that is a lot of people right now are buying something like meat in bulk and you don’t need to go buy it every week.

 

“It is exciting that we are opening the market up for walk-thru even though we are allowing only 25 people in at a time.”

 

To help keep the market crowd to 25 people at a time, there will be one entrance and one exit. The number of customers will be monitored on a one-to-one basis — meaning one customer goes out, another can go in. All customers are also being asked to maintain six feet of social distancing while in line to the market as well as once in the market space.

 

Food items will be the only ones being sold by the vendors. There will be no demos, sampling, POP Club, Sunday brunch, Book & Bean or artisans until further notice.

 

Workman said they would love to be able to open it up to artisan vendors, who could sell something like a candle. But that’s an item that any customer is going to want to stop and smell and that’s a situation that would hinder efforts to keep the crowd moving so as many customers as possible can enter the market.

 

“The first two weeks we had 10 vendors, this week we should have 19 or 20,” Workman said. “Even though it is just food items, there should be a lot more options.”

 

There will be orange cones placed outside of every vendor tent in order to practice good social distancing. Customers will be asked to stand at the cone, place their order and make their payment. At no time should the customer be in the vendor space, which includes touching the table or product.

 

Workman said that pre-ordering should help keep actual time in the market down as well as it being a good way to ensure customers get what they want before supplies run out.

 

For instructions on placing a pre-order with one of the Bridgeport Farmers Market vendors CLICK HERE

 

SNAP Benefit Cards can be used to purchase items and customers wanting to do so just need to stop by the main market table upon entry to make arrangements.

 

“All of the vendors and all of the volunteers will be wearing masks,” Workman said. “We can’t make customers wear them if they don’t want but we do highly encourage them to wear masks.”

 

For more information about the Bridgeport Farmers Market and to stay updated with any changes, visit the main website HERE  or on Facebook HERE.

 

Editor's Note: Photo is from the drive-thru only opening day for the Bridgeport Farmers Market on May 17. Photo by www.benqueenphotography.com