Two adjoining civic associations complained about the hours of operation, but Arlington County Board members on June 15 unanimously approved establishment of a new weekend farmers’ market at Dorothy Hamm Middle School
The firm that plans to start operations in early July now awaits final action by School Board members, set for June 24.
Field to Table, which operates a number of farmers’ markets across Arlington, asked for authority to run the new market from 8 a.m. to noon each Saturday from April to November. It will replace one held until the onset of the pandemic at Marymount University.
Both the Donaldson Run Civic Association and the Cherrydale Citizens Association had varying degrees of opposition to the 8 a.m. start time, saying it would put vendors in their neighborhoods at 6:30 a.m. to begin setting up.
“We continue . . . to have strong concerns,” Bill Richardson, president of the Donaldson Run Civic Association, told County Board members. County staff, Richardson said, “seems to completely disregard all those concerns.”
That organization wanted hours of operation from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Cherrydale leaders requested operating hours of 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. during school months and 8 a.m. to noon over the summer.
Field to Table officials countered that attendance plummets after noon, so the 20 vendors participating would do better with earlier hours.
County Board members followed a staff recommendation to approve the earlier time frame, coupled with a staff review and then County Board review by the end of the year.
“I understand the concerns,” County Board member Libby Garvey said. But, she added, “I’m fairly confident this is going to work out fine.”
Not everybody was vexed bythe possibility of early-morning commotion.
“Noise is something we deal with for living in an active, healthy community,” local resident Marcy Gessell said during testimony at the hearing.