Changes coming to Ballard Farmers Market this Sunday

The Ballard Farmers Market will be changing things up a bit this weekend, in part to help maintain access to Ballard Ave businesses while the market is open.

Starting this Sunday, June 28, the drive-through option will only be available for people who preorder goods online, and will be open from 9am to 9:50am. The market will close to vehicles from 10am to 2pm, opening up to general shopping and preorders by pedestrian customers only.

The market entrances are also being shifted; for the drive-through, cars should enter Ballard Ave from NW Dock Place. Cars will then move in a one-way direction, exiting at NW Market St. Farmers market staff will be on site to help direct traffic.

Pedestrian customers should enter Ballard Ave from 22nd Ave NW or NW Vernon Place. Booths will face both the east and west sidewalks of Ballard Ave in a checkerboard style to maintain physical distancing. (Here’s a map of the new layout.)

There are a few guidelines in place for health and safety, including:

• All staff, vendors and customers are required to wear a mask (we will have masks available at all market entrances)
• No sampling, no selling ready-to-eat food, no refilling reusable containers
• Emphasis on pre-paid orders
• Contactless payment methods (i.e.: Apple pay, Venmo)
• Segregation of money/market currency and food handling 
• Social distancing pavement markers (6 feet) with clear signage
• Hand washing and changing gloves after every transaction
• Limitation of the number of shoppers and time spent shopping
• Banning the public from touching produce (vendors to select and bag product) with modified booth set-up (i.e.: ropes, straps, tables, cones, sneeze guards) 
• Safety signage at entrance points, exits and booths
• Disinfect all “high-touch” surfaces frequently

“While farmers markets are often social spaces, it is important not to confuse this as the primary purpose,” the Seattle Farmers Market Association (SFMA) said in press release about the changes. “Our commitment to this community is to support Washington’s small family farms and ensuring food access for all.  We believe that open-air farmers markets (with transparent and short supply chains) can be the safest and best way to obtain food during this crisis.”

For more info about the changes and to preorder produce, visit the Ballard Farmers Market website.

Photo: Ballard Farmers Market on Facebook