Market Dads
I was cruising through the newspapers and social media to come up with a good idea for Father’s Day, but it was the usual overwhelming slop of AI and elevating trad wife influencers who have jumped the shark into brick-and-mortar shops, turning tourist towns into traffic jams. But there were a few instances that really caught my eye. There was a growing dissatisfaction within the eco journalist food writing authors, who were complaining that farmers markets had become nothing more than gathering spots for white women carrying hand woven French market bags and buying bouquets of overpriced flowers and strawberries. I thought to myself, where are these women shopping?
I had to resist the temptation to send them messages, informing them that as a farmers market vendor veteran with a quarter century experience that has certainly not been the case in any of the markets I have attended over the years, especially Central Farm markets.
If anything, the farmers market has become the domain of men. Last Sunday, one of my longtime customers bid farewell as he and his family would be moving out of state. This was a man who regularly shopped at our market with his children, three young boys, all under the age of seven. I think I met his wife twice in all those Sundays where they would arrive to pick up their pre-order and each time, he would remind the children to say thank you. Not only was he teaching them how to shop local and eat healthy, but he was also teaching them how to be polite, something that is sorely lacking in society today. I have learned to bite my tongue when customers say give me..., bring me…, I want…, I need… Adults can become cross when you ask them What is the magic word?
He’s not the only dad who brings his kids to the market on a regular basis. There are fathers who wrangle the family dog while mom and the kids pick up all the food for the coming week. He has the easy job. There are dads who show up filling their gym bags with an assortment of food for their teenage children and friends. Some of the dads use their market time with their children not just to give Mom a break, but also as quality time alone to interact with their kids. These dads are my favorite.
Increasingly, I am seeing trips to the farmers market as a weekly family outing. Sometimes I know dad would rather be home watching some sort of televised or streaming sport that they follow, but they realize that being a good partner in parenting is the real championship in life.
From the looks of our patrons and some of our vendors, there are going to be a lot of new dads soon, another divisive result of reality versus reporting. From my view, there is no lack of reproduction among the millennials.
Speaking of the millennials, it’s not just the fathers shopping, it’s the grandfathers too. I love watching a man my age pushing a pram with his progeny's offspring, the third generation, especially when the 30-something juggles a couple cartons of ripe strawberries asking if his wife or his mother makes the better shortcake. These are the conversations the women in their lives do not want to hear.
It’s not only the patrons who are bringing their children to market each week, but some of the vendors, too. As someone who raised a daughter at the farmers market, I know the life skills that these fathers are instilling in their children that will add to their lives in the future, no matter what career or endeavor they attempt. Some will follow in their father’s footsteps, and some will not, and that’s OK. One of our vendors, a fairly new father, has taken on coming to market weekly so that his wife, a new mother, can stay home and help their baby get a good start in life without all the added stress, exertion, and time commitment that weekly farmers markets demand. He gets the prize this year for Father’s Day.
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Mitch, our markets founder, the dad to one of our vendors, and a father figure to many of us, especially those of us who have lost our fathers to time or otherwise.
Happy Father’s Day to all of you.