The New West Farmers Market has issued a plea to the community to help it stay afloat through COVID-19.
The market is running Thursdays in Tipperary Park, after having managed to work out plans that would allow it to meet the necessary health and safety guidelines to keep people safe in the pandemic. It reopened with those new protocols in place on April 2.
“We have worked extremely hard with the City of New West, Fraser Health, the B.C. Association of Farmers Markets, and the BCCDC to ensure that our market can continue to serve our vendors, you and your families during the COVID-19 pandemic,” says a message on the market’s website.
The challenge, however, is that those changes – which include having fewer vendors, selling food and drink only, having vendors spaced farther apart, and having no associated entertainment or kids’ activities - have proven to be costly.
“These changes have severely impacted our operating budget,” the market’s message says. “We are working hard to find alternative sources of funding as our income has taken a detrimental hit and our expenses have skyrocketed to ensure we are able to safely run the farmers market. However, at the end of the day, we are not able to financially recover from this on our own, and we need your help.”
Find out all the details at https://newwestfarmers.ca/weneedyourhelp/ - you can find a link there to donate online, or take your donation to the market on Thursdays.
