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05/26/2020 02:39 PMThe Madison Farmer’s Market kicked off its season with pre-ordered, pre-paid curbside pickup offerings last Friday, May 22, experiencing something of a mixed success on its initial outing, with online and phone orders working smoothly but offset by some crowding issues at the new Salt Meadow location.
After having to push its opening back a week as vendors were not initially prepared for an earlier date, Market Master Aaron Taylor said the market was also asked to move from its traditional location on the green to Salt Meadow, which became crowded after nearby Hammonasset shut down and beachgoers migrated to the town park on May 22. That forced the vendors to have to set up in a smaller section of the park, causing some general confusion.
But delivering around 50 orders and spreading the word about a new way to purchase various types of local fresh produce, foodstuffs, plants, and homemade cleaning products still offered the market a success, Taylor said, which he hopes is a sign of bigger and better things to come.
“I’m just excited to be able to add more people in, and make more stuff available,” Taylor said.
Taylor said he had been working on rethinking the Madison Farmer’s Market along the lines of New Haven and Westport markets, which he said have been operating on a similar model for some time now, with people ordering and paying individual vendors ahead of time for their goods and picking up in a safe, contact-free manner at a designated time and place.
In late April at the local peak of the pandemic, Madison officials were not initially open to having any sort of market, according to Taylor. The market needed approval from the First Selectman’s Office, as well as the Madison Health and Police departments, which all eventually became comfortable with the new format, he said.
Working as a farmer himself running Four Root Farms in East Haddam, Taylor said the current pandemic crisis is a good time for people to reflect on where they can get food and other supplies, sustainably and locally. The demand for his goods has been “really extraordinary,” Taylor said, and guessed that it had increased by 500 percent since the pandemic.
“I feel like part of the case that farmers have been making who do the type of growing that we do is that a local food system is a safer food system, and a more secure and a more resilient food system when shocks come from outside, whatever those shocks may be,” Taylor said. “Unfortunately we’re right now living through a moment when that is being illustrated, and people are noticing.”
Produce or goods only touched by a handful of people that are not affected by disruptions in global supply chains are not only needed but extremely desirable right now, Taylor said, adding he expected to expand the number of vendors at Madison’s market while still following proper safety practices.
Because of the crowding problem at Salt Meadow, Taylor said he hopes the market will be able to move back to the green for its next iteration this coming Friday, May 29. He said he had already spoken to First Selectman Peggy Lyons, who he said “acknowledged that [Salt Meadow] wasn’t the greatest situation.” He encouraged customers to keep up to date with the market on Facebook to find out where it will be located.
Taylor said he hopes eventually to be able to offer a sort of “hybrid” market, with a mix of pre-order pickups and in-person shopping, something he said he and Lyons both hoped would happen “sooner rather than later.”
The market will be taking orders regardless of where the final location is for this coming Friday, May 29. Anyone interested can place their orders with vendors through the market’s website on www.madisonctfarmersmarket.com.