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The downtown San Luis Obispo Farmer’s Market will return on Thursday, May 6 with fewer vendors and a smaller footprint.
After a year of no operation, the farmer’s market will open in stages before opening to pre-pandemic levels.
“It won’t be the farmers market you remember. This will be a scale version of fruits and vegetables only and some essentials, ”said Bettina Swigger, CEO of the Downtown SLO organization.
The market will take place every Thursday, but will only consist of two blocks, instead of the usual five, along Higuera Street, between the cross sections of Chorro and Osos streets.
Vendors will also be limited, numbered between 20 and 30 in order to keep crowds at pre-pandemic levels, which would vary between 3,000 and 12,000, according to Swigger.
The only sellers allowed in this phase will be certified farmers, sellers who make prepackaged foods, and artisans and manufacturers of household products as long as they are made in-house and off-site.
Vendors will maintain a distance of six feet between kiosks and hand washing stations will be installed.
Restaurants that serve outdoors in spaces previously used for on-street parking, called parklets, will be part of the market. However, people can still take advantage of the parklets – visitors to the market will not be able to consume food or drink on site.
People will be able to walk and browse with their families, as the streets will be closed to traffic from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Thursday.
So far, the downtown San Luis Obispo farmer’s market has been closed due to the pandemic.
Since the changes, vendors have been able to sell at other Central Coast farmers’ markets because they were classified differently and licensed under California Department of Agriculture guidelines.
Swigger said the downtown farmers market often functioned more like a street fair, so the city took a conservative approach.
Nearby businesses also benefit from the market, as customers will shop and dine at local stores at the same time.
“You know that in addition to spending their money there in these booths on this site, they also spend their money in the businesses that are there so clearly, which has had a major impact on the local economy in the center. city, ”said Jim Dantona. , the president and CEO of the Chamber of Commerce of San Luis Obispo.
To find out more about the market and other events happening downtown, click here.
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