Market Days will reopen this weekend. Here’s what COVID-19 precautions are in place
For the first time in months, Market Days in Uptown Columbus will be open for business, with added measures for safety as new coronavirus cases around Georgia continue to rise.
Starting Saturday, June 20, Columbus residents will be able to purchase groceries and other goods from local vendors along Broadway. Uptown Columbus Inc., which hosts Market Days, announced the market’s return Wednesday in a Facebook post.
Around 200 people are expected to attend Market Days over the course of the morning, according to Allie Bone, events and marketing coordinator for Uptown Columbus. Market Days held prior to the pandemic drew in nearly 1,000 people.
The market, which runs from 9 a.m. to noon, is held outdoors on Broadway’s median and sidewalk and spans three blocks.
As of Monday afternoon, 21 people had RSVPed “Going” and 247 people have RSVPed “Interested” on the event’s Facebook page. In a thread of over 100 comments, the response from residents was overwhelmingly positive.
Market Days is one of the first community events to reopen in Columbus after the coronavirus pandemic led to cancellations of most large, in-person events earlier this year. Uptown Columbus announced March 16 that the remaining Market Days for its 2019-2020 season would be canceled.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp announced June 11 that gatherings of 50 people would be allowed starting Tuesday provided that social distancing measures are in place. Gatherings can be larger if social distancing measures are practiced.
The Market Days reopening comes as newly-reported cases of coronavirus rose last week in Georgia, with June 13 marking the highest 24-hour increase in new cases since early May. On June 9, Muscogee County reported the largest single-day increase in confirmed cases to date.
Bone said that the recent spike in cases did not factor into the decision to reopen Market Days. When asked to elaborate, Bone did not provide further comment.
In a later interview with the Ledger-Enquirer, Tracey Flowers Green, Director of Communications and Events for Uptown Columbus, said that the organization will monitor safety recommendations and risks on a day-by-day basis in order to provide a safe environment.
“We’re hoping to support our local small businesses and give people something where people feel safe to come and feel welcome,” said Green.
Uptown Columbus encourages vendors and shoppers to take safety precautions, but will only require that hand sanitizer stations are set up in vendor’s stations. Vendors will also be required to complete a pre-screening questionnaire to determine if they have had any symptoms of the coronavirus, in which case they will not be able to participate.
Here are the current rules and guidelines put in place by Uptown Columbus:
Wearing masks is encouraged.
Sanitizing hands and equipment is encouraged.
Social distancing is encouraged.
Vendors are required to provide hand sanitizer in their spaces.
Food samples are prohibited.
Vendors are encouraged to accept card payments only.
Representatives from Uptown Inc. will be present to promote social distancing.
Vendors will be asked about symptoms.
Hands-free shopping is encouraged.
Though outdoor activities pose a lesser risk than indoor activities, any gathering that reduces the ability to properly social distance poses a risk of spreading the coronavirus, says Dr. Harry Heiman, a public health professor at Georgia State University.
“To open up a venue like this in the context of a rise in cases is certainly something I wouldn’t be recommending,” Heiman said. “If you have an increased number of cases in the county that you know about, it means there’s also an increased number of cases that you don’t know about — people who are asymptomatic or people who haven’t developed symptoms yet.”
Staying six feet apart from other people, wearing a mask, sanitizing hands and equipment, placing physical barriers such as Plexiglass between vendors and customers, limiting capacity, and controlling entry and exit to the event can help reduce the risk of catching coronavirus at a large outdoor gathering, Heiman said.
Taking those and other individual safety precautions at Market Days is up to the discretion of shoppers, Bone says. Entry and exit will not be controlled because the event is held across the median and sidewalks of Broadway, said Green.
Six representatives from Uptown Columbus will also be present at the event to encourage social distancing. Green said that the Columbus Health Department approved of Uptown’s safety measures on Friday, two days after the organization announced the re-opening.
Pamela Kirkland, public relations and information coordinator for the West Central Health, confirmed that Uptown Columbus consulted with a program manager at the Columbus Health Department.
Mayor Skip Henderson encourages the use of masks and common sense for anyone going to Market Days.
“I think if they want to go out, they should, but just be smart. Keep up to date on social distancing, I think, wear a mask,” Henderson said. “I have become very comfortable wearing a mask now in public. And I think, any precautions we can take, number one is if you feel bad, don’t go to Market Days. If you get a cold or something, don’t go, go get a test.”
Bone says the reopening of several other nearby markets, such as Midland Market and Auburn market, provided the impetus for the reopening of Columbus’s market. Randy Lunsford, currently the interim CEO of Uptown Columbus, visited these markets to observe what safety precautions were taken and would be adapted to Market Days, Bone said.
“I’m glad that the businesses and the vendors are able to get out there and get kind of back to work,” Henderson said. “It’s been a tough road for a lot of our small businesses and a lot of these, you know these vendors have come out. And it’s been tough on our residents too.”
This story was originally published June 16, 2020 at 12:20 PM.