ST. PETERSBURG, Fla — On a typical Saturday, the Saint Pete Saturday Morning Market is packed with people shopping for local produce and crafts.
Now, though, the Saturday market isn't able to hold their typical farmer's market because of social distancing requirements during the coronavirus pandemic.
While that might be disappointing to people who normally come out to get their groceries, it's even more concerning for local farmers who come to sell at the market. So the market's founder came up with an idea -- to have people order online during the week, and then be able to drive through and pick up their order Saturday mornings.
Travis Malloy is one of the farmers that comes to the market. He owns TrailBale Farms near Tampa and has been coming to the market for the past three years. Malloy sells fresh eggs and produce, and was worried about the thought of the market closing all the way, because about half of his small farm's revenue comes from the market.
"The threat of the St. Pete market closing, the biggest one around, and is super food-focused, the threat of it closing down was nerve-racking for a lot of us," he said.
Malloy says he's really grateful to the market for figuring out a way to be able to continue business while still following guidelines. He says his profits from the market are about the same with this new way of doing things.
If you want to order produce from local farmers to pick up at the Saturday market, you can visit their website here.
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