SYDNEY, N.S. — The Cape Breton Farmers’ Market won’t be reopening when other local businesses do on June 5.
Spokesperson Pauline Singer said they are waiting until guidelines provided by the Farmers’ Market Association of Nova Scotia, which are in accordance with public health directives, are relaxed.
“It’s really not feasible for us to open right now because the whole premise of the market is a social enterprise as well as a retail space. So for us to only allow 10 people in at a time into the market (won’t work). I’d also have to reduce the number of vendors we have so we could maintain social distancing,” she said.
“It would be too cumbersome for us to open right now under the current guidelines — which we understand completely why we need them. But we’re going to continue doing what we have been until the restrictions are lifted.”
Since having to close due to health protection orders in place to stop the spread of COVID-19 in Nova Scotia, the farmers’ market has been able to sell some products online through the Pan Cape Breton Food Hub.
While this has been very successful (Singer said one vendor has sold out of chicken) it hasn’t given non-food producer vendors an avenue to sell their products.
Singer said a couple of weeks after the Nova Scotia government announced the state of emergency and stay at home orders on March 22, she decided it was to redirect some business plans to get their market retail store ready now.
“Our plan is to have all of our vendor products in that store, minus our vendors,” she explained. “We’ll be open a couple of days a week… This was always our plan from the start but we decided because of what is going on right now, we better put a push on it.”
The bottom floor of the downtown Sydney building where the farmers’ market is located used to be the Smooth Herman’s nightclub. The room where the store will be was formerly the Smooth Herman's coat check. One wall of the store is made of wood that came from Smooth Herman’s during renovations, a tribute to the history of the building.
The market store is four weeks away from opening and until then Singer said there are few revenue streams although rent, utilities and other bills are still getting paid.
Ineligible for any federal or provincial government funding support during the COVID-19 pandemic, Singer said they have been holding weekly fundraising dinners to help cover costs. Each week, a local chef or restaurant sponsors creates a takeout Market Menu meal to be picked up Monday evening. Proceeds go to the farmers' market and they are very popular. The lobster roll supper created by The Prince Street Chef and Copper and Fire Catering for the June 1 meal sold out a day in advance.
Singer hopes the fundraisers plus revenues from the market store will keep them going until restrictions are lifted and they can open. Until then, she’d rather they stay closed until it is safe for everyone to return.
“We have everyone here, from newborns right up to 90-year-olds,” she said. “We can’t open and risk being the epicentre of an outbreak… For now, it’s better we keep doing what are doing.”
