The San Luis Obispo Thursday night farmer’s market, suspended since March 12, is restructuring in order to reopen.
The downtown San Luis Obispo farmers market is the only market in the county to close during shelter-in-place orders because of its unique nature and size.
“Our market is a little different, it’s giant,” Downtown SLO farmers market manager Whitney Chaney said. “It is considered a large gathering and with Gov. Newsom’s plan it would put us in stage three and four.”
Certified farmers markets were deemed essential by the Governor. However, Chaney said this market encourages tourism, which the city is trying to limit.
Chaney is working with county health officials to plan a new version of the market. The county hoped to offer a scaled-back version of the market, with only essential goods. This would include produce and possibly baked goods.
“It won’t be the market that we left with that encourages you to come and hang out, it won’t be a market that you come and eat dinner at,” Chaney said. “It’s going to be a market that is serving the needs of our community and that means purchasing produce and heading home to make your own meals.”
While the San Luis Obispo weekly farmers market will not be open until further notice, many vendors are still selling products at other local markets. Visit Downtown SLO’s virtual farmers market page for more information on how to support local farmers and vendors.
“Their usual customers on Thursday are hopefully following them to the other markets, but we know it’s not the same,” Chaney said. “We know it affects them so those dollars that they are used to on Thursday — that’s a whole day of income that they have to make up elsewhere.”