The Downtown SLO Farmers’ Market has been cancelled this week due to forecasted rain, according to the Downtown SLO website.
There is a high chance of rain on Thursday starting at 1 p.m. according to The Weather Channel. This event happens every Thursday from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Higuera Street, featuring local vendors and entertainment.
“Cancelling the Farmers’ Market is always a difficult decision — we know how much it means to our community, vendors, and our downtown,” said Jay Nelson, farmers’ market coordinator downtown SLO, in an email to Mustang News.
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Ashley Bartlett, masters in higher education counseling and student affairs sophomore, thinks it’s pretty interesting because this has happened a few times before and she feels like it doesn’t always end up raining the day that it’s closed.
“I think it’s not that big of a deal to me because it happens every week so taking one week off give the small businesses a break but also at the same time, I recognize that for some of those small businesses, it might be their one way to make a lot of money, and so it might take a little hit on their profits which can be hard,” Bartlett said.
The farmers market staff begins to monitor the weather about a week in advance, consulting multiple sources daily, according to Nelson. The Rain Out Committee is made up of the farmer’s market team, leadership in Downtown SLO, the Manager of the Certified Farmers’s Section of the market and a meteorologist from KSBY.
“We know from experience that this event typically does not garner sufficient foot traffic during the rain, which ultimately impacts the sales of our vendors,” Nelson said. “We also know that many of our vendors cannot operate safely or at full capacity during the rain.”
If there is evidence of rain beyond a reasonable doubt, the farmer’s market will be cancelled the day before, Nelson said. This gives the vendors time to prepare for the cancellation.
Business administration sophomore Jack Ferra occasionally goes to Farmers’ Market and says that he would be pretty bummed out if he was looking to go. Ferra said he does not know why exactly it has to be closed because most of the booths seem to have tents.
“I don’t know if it is just a hassle of them setting up in the rain so they don’t want to do it, but I feel like if they want to be there when it’s raining, then I don’t see why they shouldn’t be allowed to,” Ferra said. “Maybe they’ve allowed them to set up in the rain before and normally when it rains, just no one comes so it’s not worth the effort.”
Nutrition sophomore Sarah Giron said she would not go to Farmers’ Market if it is raining but feels like they should maybe leave it as an option for vendors as it is a big source of income for them.
“I feel like that wouldn’t be as fun, so I guess it’s okay,” Giron said. “A lot of them need outlets or electricity so I could see if it’s raining, it just wouldn’t work.”
This article was updated to include comment from the city.
