Program Status due to COVID-19

Weekly Market

After suspending open-air operations from March—September, our Sunday Market re-opened on October 4th, 2020. Thursday market is CLOSED until further notice. Our online marketplace, GOFM To-Go, remains open in conjunction with the open-air Sunday market.

Operating Galveston’s Own Farmers Market safely is our top priority, and we are implementing significant precautionary measures to protect the health of our shoppers, vendors and the community as a whole. These precautionary measures will be updated as necessary.

Safety Protocols for Shoppers:

• Maintain Distance: we ask for shoppers to remain 6 feet apart at all times.

• There will be cones/chalk lines at the market indicating 6-foot social distancing spacing. Customers must abide by social distancing protocols of 6 feet throughout market.

• If you have any symptoms or believe that you may have been exposed to the novel coronavirus, please stay home.

• Following guidance from the CDC, we require shoppers to wear a mask or face covering to market.

• There will be defined entrances at our markets. Customers are ONLY allowed to enter at these designated entry points. There will be a customer queue at each entrance where customers will sanitize hands before entering our markets.

• If possible, send only one member of your household to shop at the market, and leave pets at home. Talk to your neighbors, and consider sending one shopper for multiple households if you can.

• Please refrain from greeting anyone at the market with hugs or handshakes. 

• Come prepared with a shopping list to decrease the amount of time spent at the market.

• Read signage at market and follow instructions – there will be entrances and exits to larger booths, marked spaces for standing in line, and limits to the number of people who can be in a booth at one time.

• Wash or sanitize your hands frequently using the options provided.

• Do not handle produce or products—allow your vendor to pick up the items for you.

• After completing your purchases, please do not linger in the market space.

Additionally, we are taking the following precautions to make our market safe:

• Spacing booths farther apart

• Limiting the number of shoppers in the market at a time, and queuing shoppers at entrances when we are at capacity

• Removing all seating

• Removing all “Community” tents for communal gathering 

• Removing the communal coffee station

• Restricting all food sales to take away only

• Limiting sampling to individual portions provided by vendor

• Requiring vendors to have hand sanitizer or hand washing station available at checkout

• Requiring vendors to wear face masks while selling at the market

• Sanitizing high-touch surfaces frequently 

• Asking that sick staff, vendors or customers stay home and not attend market

Cooperation with the Health Department:

• GOFM will notify Galveston County Health District within 24 hours if we suspect COVID-19 is spreading in our market, or if we become aware of 2 or more employees/customers who develop confirmed or suspected COVID-19 within a 14-day period.

• GOFM will cooperate with public health authorities in the investigation of cases, suspected cases, outbreaks, and suspected outbreaks of COVID-19; cooperate with the implementation of infection control measures, including but not limited to isolation and quarantine and environmental cleaning; and comply with all public health authority orders and directives.

Safety Protocols for Vendors:

We are putting these measures in place with the guidance of the CDC. GOFM and our vendors must follow all the above guidelines, in addition to the guidelines below, to ensure a safe market for all stakeholders, and so that we can remain a viable market outlet for all our valued vendors as we navigate this pandemic.

The following rules are requirements for all vendors:

• No communal samples. Only pre-packaged and sealed samples allowed.

  • Samples are pre-portioned

  • GOFM will allow beverages to be handed out for sampling if they can be poured from a spigot in single use cups.

  • Sample area is monitored by a vendor/worker to maintain social distancing and discourage congregating

  • Vendor/worker is protected by social distancing and/or the use of barriers

  • Adequate trash receptacles are provided to dispose of waste

• Vendors are required to wear a cloth face covering or mask.

• Vendors are required to wash/sanitize their hands at least once an hour.

• Prepared Food Vendors must package all food for consumption off-site. 

  • Hand Sanitizer (at least 60% alcohol content) at every booth, provided by the vendor, for customers and employees. Vendors who do not have hand sanitizer available will be required to breakdown and vacate market.

  • All booths will be spaced apart to maximize space and minimize clustering from each other, and layouts will reflect this. Our markets will have some layout irregularities as a result. Some vendors will have to move from their typical spots. We appreciate everyone’s understanding as we work through this.

  • Vendors and customers are not allowed to occupy the spaces between booths.

  • GOFM will provide additional handwashing stations at our markets, open to all staff, vendors, and customers.

  • Vendors sanitize surfaces at least once per hour;

  • Anyone who is feeling unwell should stay home – employees must be sent home if they exhibit internal body temperature of 100.4 °F or higher.

  • Any vendor who is at higher risk, including individuals over 65 and/or with underlying health conditions, should stay home.

  Thank you all for helping us all stay safe and healthy!

Our online store, GOFM To-Go, is still open weekly for customers to make orders (between 10am—Friday 5pm) Customers may then pick-up or choose home delivery on Sunday, 10am-12pm. Almost all of our regular GOFM vendors have made their products available via this online store—please support them through online purchases!

Please check our Facebook and Instagram for more ways you can support the small businesses, farms, and ranches at your local market.

Young Gardeners Program

Young Gardeners Program Sessions will follow Galveston ISD’s schedule.

Weekly Waterers will continue as scheduled.

YGP Community Days, YGP Cooking Days, and YGP Community Dinners are cancelled until further notice.

Real Food Project

We have a full schedule of virtual Community Cooking Classes for the rest of 2020! Check them out here!

All in-person Real Food Project events are cancelled until further notice.

What steps are we taking

September 13, 2020 – UPDATE

Thanks to valuable data gathered during our August solicitation for feedback through our customer, volunteer & vendor surveys, GOFM has moved forward with the next phase of our COVID-19 response.

At the September 8th meeting of GOFM’s Board of Directors, the decision was made to cautiously re-open the open-air farmers market on October 4th. A detailed list of safety policies and procedures were approved (see above under ‘Weekly Markets’). The in-person market and online marketplace GOFM To-Go will operate simultaneously until further notice.

As of now, our Young Gardeners Program is operating in various different ways, unique to each school. We are planning for virtual, in-person and hybrid learning for our YGP curriculum and garden work with children. We continue to adapt to the needs expressed by our partners, Galveston Independent School District and 21st Century ACE.

The Real Food Project has forged ahead with online cooking classes as we continue to cautiously avoid in-person classes. The schedule can be found here. Community Dinners continue to be on-hold for the time being.

Navigating this environment while trying our darndest to respect to all members of our community has been incredibly difficult. We are trying our best, and we are immensely grateful for the support shown by folks throughout Galveston County & beyond.

with many thanks & positive thoughts,

Casey McAuliffe

GOFM Executive Director

——

March 19, 2020 – UPDATE

GOFM To-Go debuts today!

Our online store is now open & stocked with vegetables, eggs, meats, breads, sweets, body products & other products from our normal roster of vendors. Visit GOFM To-Go to shop with your favorite local vendors.

This is the best way we know to keep you connected to good local food, sustain the livelihoods of our small GOFM businesses and ensure maximum safety for everyone amid the COVID-19 threat.

Please maintain patience with the store and on Sunday when we do our first-ever pick-ups. This is new to all of us. 🙂

GOFM To-Go will close Friday at 10pm to ensure we can fulfill & process orders for Sunday pick-up. (We’ve got to leave time for the bakers to bake and the farmers to harvest, right?)

Thank you for supporting us as we strive to make good, healthy decisions.

With a mouthful of lettuce,

Casey McAuliffe

Executive Director, GOFM

—

March 18, 2020

Effective immediately, GOFM is suspending Thursday & Sunday markets. An online store featuring our vendors will debut within 1-2 days.

Customers will pre-order their beloved sourdough, lettuces, growlers of kombucha, flower bouquets & beyond and then arrive at The Bryan Museum – Galveston on Sunday morning to pick them up!

As fast as we possibly can, we will re-integrate in-person shopping & initiatives to serve our SNAP & WIC customers.

We aim to keep you– our customers, our vendors, our volunteers, our friends– as safe as possible. Thank you for supporting us; we vow to continue to do our best by you while ensuring you have access to fresh local food.

Sincerely, with big thanks & great hope,

Casey McAuliffe

Executive Director, GOFM

—

March 9, 2020

We are in close communications with the Galveston County Health District regarding the threat of Coronavirus in our area and its possible effect on our community.

We are taking all necessary precautions recommended by the CDC and remaining in contact with GCHD so that we take every step necessary to keep our community informed and safe.

• Temporarily pausing all community partner visits, including GOFM Imagination Station

• Pausing the free coffee from Galveston Coffee Roasters

• There will be no community lounge area on Sundays

We encourage everyone to practice smart hygiene protocol as advised by the CDC & use proper handwashing techniques, avoid close person-to-person contact and utilize hand sanitizers within our venue or in other public spaces.

We urge you to stay home if you are running a fever or have flu-like symptoms.

If you have questions about any of these developments, please contact us at info@gofarmersmarket.com.