GREEN BAY (NBC26) — The Farmer's Market on Broadway has been canceled due to severe weather multiple weeks in a row, forcing small businesses and farmers to miss out on important revenue.
- The Farmer's Market was canceled on July 8 due to severe weather.
- Vendors say they're disappointed, but they understand the decision.
- A list of Farmer's Market vendors can be found here.
At Roddy's Farm and Market in Green Bay, harvesting produce is a family affair.
“We do this all ourselves, plant it all, grow it, pick it," Vanessa Roddy, co-owner of the farm, says.
Roddy and her husband grew up farming, and they fell in love working at the same produce farm.
“It’s very rewarding," Vanessa says.
For years they’ve sold produce at both Green Bay Farmer's Markets.
The Roddys operate a farm stand in Green Bay and Bellevue, but Vanessa says the markets are still very important for revenue.
"That’s a good chunk of where all of our produce goes," she says.
She says she was disappointed to hear the market was canceled again
“That’s a lot of money three weeks in a row, and you know farmers, we have three, four months to make the money to pay the bills for the rest of the year," she says. "It's a short window of time that we get to do this, so when the weather is not cooperating, it makes it very difficult."
Still, she says she understands On Broadway's decision to close Wednesday's market.
“It's not easy either way- I feel bad for the people who have to make the decision and the people it's affecting," she says. "I think we all need to bear with it and try to get through it... We can’t control the weather.”
Megan Mielcarek owns Succulent Serenity, a succulent arrangement business she started out of her home a couple years ago.
It’s her second year selling at the Farmer's Market on Broadway.
"It has been a little bit of a struggle this past month," she says.
She remembers enduring the weather at the market on June 24, so she was relieved when this week's market was canceled.
“We were stuck in that storm two weeks ago, and it was terrible," she says. "The hail started coming down, and it was too late to go anywhere, so we just hunkered down under the tent... Safety is always going to take precedence."
Brian Johnson is the president of On Broadway, the organization which puts on the Farmer's Market. He says they have to make the decision to cancel the market early in the morning– before vendors begin setting up.
“These are tough calls," he says. "We’re consulting with the National Weather Service, we’re making that decision with the best interest of the public and our vendors, recognizing that it has a real financial impact and a real toll on those that financially benefit from this event."
He says this season they have two extra Wednesdays, so there will be two extra markets.
"Normally from year-to-year, we might sort of plan for two-to-three cancellations, and the fact that we're there already is a really hard pill to swallow," he says. "We take a great deal of care when we make these decisions, and it's never easy."
Johnson says vendors can pay a day-by-day fee to sell at the Farmer's Market, or they can purchase a season pass.
He says the vendors aren't likely to be refunded for the cancellations.
"We have to really make sure that the event is well-cared for financially in order to help create this opportunity every week," he says.
Vanessa and Mielcarek say the best thing the community can do is continue to shop local anyways.
“Contact your farmer you like to buy from, and ask them where they’re selling," Vanessa says. "Every year is different, we just roll with it, we'll get through it."
"Don’t get discouraged," Mielcarek says. "There’s still so much more summer ahead of us.”
