It’s no secret that the COVID-19 pandemic has put many businesses out of business. One “growing” concern, however, that’s managed to weather the storm is the Montclair Village Farmers’ Market. The backbone of its survival has been due primarily to the diligent Northern California farmers who provide the organic fresh fruits and vegetables sold at the weekly event, but it hasn’t been easy.
Denise Smith and her husband, Roy, have brought apples, blueberries and cherries from D&R Farms in Linden, 84 miles east of Oakland, to Montclair for almost 20 years. Hit by a wicked freeze and hail storm last February that damaged a lot of their crops, Smith says they’ve been able to overcome that. What concerns her lately though is the lack of families coming to the market.
Still another problem D&R and other farmers who participate the market face is the difficulty farmers’ have finding workers willing to put in the long hours needed to bring product to it.