Cancelled
Have you ever gotten cranky over a cancellation? A night out on the town, your favorite series, the concert for which you had front row tickets, we’ve all been there. And I know how much our customers love the weekly farmers market as well as their vendors so it’s no surprise some were miffed over the market’s closure last week when the storm failed to return the expected estimations in the area.
Practically everyone I heard from, fellow vendors and customers alike, were sending out well wishes for everyone to stay safe and warm, but there were a few who complained about eating store-bought staples for a week. I’ve been telling everyone for years that there is nothing at the market that won’t keep for a week or that can’t be frozen except those fresh trays of uni at the fishmonger. Stock up in the winter months for such a day as last week.
Trust me when I tell you that your farmers do not want to miss a week of market. Each of us has our own criteria for calling out, but the ultimate decision as to whether or not the market operates is the Montgomery County School District. That’s why we tell our customers to follow the public announcements for cancelations to see if the market is open or not. You can also subscribe to the market’s emails or follow Central Farm Markets on social media. Additionally, most of your vendors will also send out notices and post to their social media accounts, too. There is no excuse for not knowing if the market is open during inclement weather.
There may be times, however, when the market’s management chooses to cancel the market ahead of the county’s decision which could come as late as 7 AM the day of. By that time many of the vendors are onsite and underway. I can’t tell you how miserable it is to pack product and drive into the city only to find the market canceled. That’s our time as well as an expense in addition to the loss of sales for the day. With the vendors’ best interest at heart, the market management will always do their best to make an informed decision with safety at the forefront. The weather can be quite different from Bethesda for farmers who travel in from Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia and even within Maryland so if there’s not six inches of snow with little visibility in your back yard, don’t send me a message asking where I am.
Many of the farmers have been doing the weekly drive in all types of weather for more than a decade. We know the limits of our box trucks, sprinter vans, trucks, trailers, and cars. I'm not afraid of driving in the snow; it's the other idiots on the road I worry about. I can’t tell you how many times the vendors who travel the same roads at the same time have remarked, “Did you see that idiot who…?” and they will proceed with the make, model, and bad move that made us all grateful there wasn’t an accident. And when there are accidents, guess who gets to sit in traffic?
In addition to bad weather, there are other times when the drive to and from market becomes perilous. I call it the amateur hour—those times where people who don’t normally drive on the major highways are traveling. Holiday weekends are notorious as are big game days for local professional sports teams. At least they often identify themselves with those silly little window flags so they can be given a wide berth, especially around the interchanges. Not once have I ever heard a GPS system say, Cross four lanes of traffic to merge immediately, but it happens more than you’d imagine.
Given the activities in the District last week, I expected more aggressive amateurs than usual on the roads. Add snow and the potential for a dangerous drive to and from the market became all the more evident. Judging from the social media posts from fellow farmers who do other regional city markets that did not close, the drive home from market had I gone would have taken twice what it normally does due to slow moving traffic due to both weather and multiple accidents.
For those citing other markets that choose to remain open during weather events that prompt National Weather Service Warnings telling people to stay at home, ask yourself this—is the well-being of the people who feed you worth your inconvenience?