Authorities in Roanoke, Virginia, are considering banishing a "farmers market" from a prime location it has long occupied on Tuesday evenings in the downtown Market Square, according to the Roanoke Times. If some vendors are chagrined that the possible demise of the market isn't raising much of hew and a cry among the citizens, perhaps they should blame lax or perhaps nonexistent enforcement of rules, if in fact there are any such rules, assuring that the farmers market is what it purports to be, a place where farmers sell what they actually grow.
Judging from reader comments posted on the newspaper's message board, some shoppers have long-since recognized that many of the vendors at the market aren't farmers at all. As a result, they are cynical about the market and aren't exactly rallying to its defense. As a reader named Travelguy observes:
"The Roanoke City Market is changing!! If one ever notices a lot of the vendors are not selling produce, they are selling jewelry and other accessories. The farmers around Roanoke are not coming into the city like in years past since a lot of small communtiies have their own farmers markets."
Reader CharlesVA adds:
"The market is disgusting and needs to move to a spot somewhere out on Williamson Road. Its dirty, full of bums, and crowded. Nothing is more annoying than trying to walk down the street and some clueless couple is standing in the middle of the sidewalk gawking at some piece of trash artwork or painted rock while blocking your path."
A reader named Connor apparently wants to refute CharlesVA's dim view of the farmers market, but in the process seems to lend some credence the complaint:
"I wonder why you feel so strongly-dirty stalls, street people, poorly marked cross walks, narrow sidewalks, "resold" fruits and vegetables, little outdoor entertainment, dining, and parking,-perhaps many of these would apply."
The moral of the story: Farmers markets that will let anyone sell anything may appear to draw crowds, but they won't build a loyal clientele.
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