Art Friedrich runs multiple farmers markets in Miami and helped build one of the most popular ones in the area, the Upper Eastside farmers market at Legion Park on Biscayne Boulevard. So when the novel coronavirus pandemic hit the United States early last year, he never expected that keeping the market up and running as new guidelines allowed would be a Herculean task.
After all, outdoor activity was encouraged only a month after the March lockdown, grocery store shopping had been deemed essential and getting food at an open-air green market was likely safer than a trip to an indoor big-box supermarket. Fruits and vegetables at farmers markets also pass through fewer hands than those reliant on massive supply chains, which result in food being touched by multitudes of clerks and hordes of customers.