The Dalles Farmer’s Market opens June 6

Noticeably missing will be live music, nonprofit and sponsor booths, food demos, and the Power of Produce kids program. Sales of crafts and food for on-site consumption will also be prohibited, and customers won’t be allowed to handle produce or other items before purchasing — they’ll communicate with the vendor what they want, and the vendor will package it for them.

“When possible, we will eliminate touch points in general,” said White. One of those points is making change: Vendors are being asked to round bills to the nearest dollar to avoid making change, and White encourages customers to bring lower-denomination bills. Additionally, the manager’s booth won’t be running debit/credit cards in exchange for $5 tokens as they have in years past: Vendors will need to provide their own method to process electronic payments, or go cash-only. 

While not a certainty yet, White is also working on the possibility of setting up a system for farmers to load their products onto a website so customers can order and pre-pay online.

“We know some vendors that won’t do that … but at other markets, it has been very popular,” she said.

Vendors are required to follow social-distancing measures, such as wearing masks and providing hand-washing stations or hand sanitizer at their booths. The booths themselves will be a minimum of 10-feet apart (potentially further, depending on how lines end up affecting the flow of traffic) and customers will be asked to follow a one-way tract through the market starting from an entrance on Union Street, with a limit on how many people can be in the market at one time. A detailed market map with the layout and flow of traffic will be available on the market’s website, thedallesfarmersmarket.com, closer to the June 6 opening date, said White.

“We’re going to be learning as we go … there’s no textbook for this,” White said. 

While the market will be a different experience than years past, White hopes it will still be a good one: New vendors are joining the lineup this year, and the market has received grants to fund a Double Up Food Bucks program, which allows vendors to double SNAP benefits for customers up to $10 per visit.

“I’m going to do my best to make sure this is the best experience for everybody, and also local farmers need the business,” said White. “We just ask for people’s patience. We want to get it right but this is a whole new world and we want this to be a world where people can buy good, healthy food from their local farmers.”

The Dalles Farmers Market runs Saturdays starting the first weekend in June through the second weekend in October, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at City Park in The Dalles. 

The market is looking for volunteers to help with social-distance monitoring (if interested, contact Volunteer Coordinator Gwen Johnston at JohnstonsOrchard@gmail.com or 541-980-5516) as well as donations to help cover costs. “We’re having to spend money on things we haven’t in the past … and we’re going to have decreased revenue because of the reduced amount of vendors and sponsors,” said White. In addition, they’ve had to replace three tents, valued at $150 each, that were stolen out of their storage trailer. White discovered the theft this past week, as they were going through items in the trailer to prepare for the June 6 opening. They haven’t notice anything else missing from the trailer, White said, and have already ordered replacement tents online that White hopes will arrive in time for the opening.

Donations can be made via the market’s website, www.thedallesfarmersmarket.com. Anyone with an interest in sponsoring should contact White at thedallesfarmersmarket@gmail.com or 541-965-3658.