Farmers Market change not good for some

Rosa Gonzalez would like Othello’s farmers market switched back to Saturday.

The part-time vegetable vendor who works at the town’s Walmart during the week, Garza says it’s tough to get off work at 4 p.m., get to Pioneer Park, set up her stall, and sell her produce on a Thursday afternoon.

Garza also said the new hours for the farmers market, 3-7 p.m. on Thursday, are simply not good hours for many of the town’s residents.

“Not everyone knows,” she told members of the Othello City Council on Monday. “The first day wasn’t really good for me, most vendors are also farm workers.”

“Saturdays work for most people,” she said. “I’d rather have the farmers market on Saturdays, there are customers and we sell a lot more.”

However, market organizers with the Othello Chamber of Commerce told the city council that the move to Thursday has seen an increase in both the number of vendors and customers and a renewed interest in the farmers market.

“It’s our second year in Pioneer Park, and we’ve seen a decline in vendors and customers because it’s not unusual for Othello residents to go out of town on Saturday,” said Bianca Mendoza, manager of the chamber of commerce.

It was a point city council member John Lallas echoed, noting that many Othellans go to Moses Lake or Ellensburg to shop or even find a farmers market.

“People go other places on Saturday. Nobody’s here,” he said.

Mendoza said that while the move to Thursday at the beginning of August was inconvenient for some sellers, the number of people attending the market and vendors selling at the market had triple since the move.

“Saturdays are good for vegetable vendors, but we want the market to grow, to make it big,” said Chamber of Commerce President Patty Garza.

Garza acknowledged there had been a problem the first two Thursdays with the distribution of WIC vouchers to some of the city’s poorer residents to help them buy fresh fruit and vegetables, but that appears to have been solved at the most recent farmers market.

Mayor Shawn Logan told Gonzalez, who spoke during the public comment period of Monday’s city council meeting, that the city had a contract with the chamber of commerce to run the farmers market, including proving insurance and a place to do business.

“This is their event, their park, the city is not really doing this,” Logan said. “Don’t know what you could do to sell on Saturday. You could change your work schedule or set up someplace on your own.”

“I’ll see what works,” Gonzalez said.