Whitehorse's Fireweed market opens this week — under strict new guidelines

It's become a summer mainstay in Whitehorse, but the Fireweed Community Market is going to look a lot different this year because of strict new guidelines related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The weekly farmers' market at Shipyards Park will have its opening day on Thursday, and manager Darren Holcombe is "pretty excited."

"We've been doing a lot of work to put this on, so I'm a little nervous. But I think we have everything in place to have a successful and safe market," he said.

Holcombe said it wasn't clear back in March whether there would a Fireweed market this year. But organizers looked at how similar outdoor markets elsewhere were adapting, and used guidelines from Yukon's chief medical officer to come up with a plan.

"What will be different is, we're basically running an outdoor grocery store," Holcombe said.

That means there will only be food vendors — farmers selling produce, but also people selling baked goods and prepared foods, as well as food trucks.

A typical year at the market would also include artists and craftspeople selling their wares and community groups setting up information stands, but Holcombe says the current guidelines won't allow that.

"They can't be there right now. We hope they can be later in the year," he said.

No eating on site

Another big change is that people can't eat there. Everything, including meals from food trucks, must be packed up for people to take home.

"For many years we've been promoting to come down to the market, stay awhile, have a meal, meet up with friends, you know — all that is kind of reversed for now," Holcombe said.

Customers also have the option of pre-ordering from some vendors on the market's website, to then go pick up their goods at the site on market day. 

Holcombe says there are 27 vendors now signed up to be part of the market, and still more may show up. He says their stalls will be well-spaced, and access to the area will be controlled. There will be an entrance and an exit, and visitors will be encouraged to do the circuit in the same direction. 

There will also be hand sanitizer and a hand-washing station on site.

Holcombe says it was important to keep the market going, even if it looks a lot different this year.

"We are community market. And if we can do it safely, that's what we wanted to do, to put it on," he said.