Pee and poop happens!

Sorry! We are in a City park so we allow dogs. When people ask if they are allowed, my typical response is you know your dog best. If you feel they can handle being around crowds of people and potentially other dogs it is a public space.

Not a dog, but we had a cat scratch a kid at the Aitkin Farmers Market, luckily it was a vendor's kid so nothing bad happened.

YES please Kathy! Its so hard to navigate this as dog treat vendors get very upset when we discourage dogs

Yeah, what about the dog treat vendors?

Yes on involving the press on the dog issue!

I put my dog treat vendors on the edge so they can still interact with the dog walkers

Anyone ever have or have thoughts about allowing an animal allies guest vendor that would bring dogs for adoption?

People do the shopping, not dogs ;) But dogs do influence the purchase. Its tricky

Tiffany I was just asked by one if they could come to market

I wonder if it would be helpful to have a printed card with some stats on dog bites, mentioning that many folks are very afraid of dogs, and then a Code of Conduct for dogs. There could be a personal story of a dog bite on the flip side. Then this "Yellow Card" (like soccer) could be handed to folks with unruly dogs. There's never enough time to explain to folks why their sweet angel could be a problem for some.

Bloomington Health told me the handwashing station could be within 10 feet.

I've witnessed a vendor walking around from booth to booth during slow times with their gloves on. I've asked them to always change their gloves when making contact.

Maybe info from a dog trainer. Its a very very hard place to be a dog. Lots of sights and smells and hard to protect your person with all of the crowds and dogs

So those pre done samples can be used now?

Covered samples make sense, because all you would have to do to change that from a sample to a product would be to charge a penny for it. No longer a sample.

Mara - you can use DialogOne for an outside servie

*service

I suggest finding a community partner (community action/social services) to find translation. or, offer a gift cert. to market

Thank you!

What about hiring college students for translating?

Marlise and AEOA do in Virginia

Fivver.com is a great place for reasonably priced translation

John, how did you coordinate the mailing to SNAP participants?

Sorry -- fiverr.com

Love the college student idea-I have students who have to do community engagement-but mostly in the fall semester. I’d love some FM partners!

Mao - Maple Grove Farmers Market. I am not certified but I can help with any Hmong translating if anyone is interested.

We have paid vendors kids to do translation

There is a really cool youth translation program in St Paul-will find out the name and info-but it’s a cool program

SNAP-Ed is also working on translating flyers for SNAP/EBT at the FMs,. Should be ready for this season.

Thanks Mao! Great to know!

It makes total sense for Hunger Solutions to translate at least in Spanish if not other for all of us. We need to keep asking.

We did have negative comments. We had an individual who was suspected of EBT fraud become extremely angry at the manager and then posted rants on Facebook. We responded with information about the market's obligation to ensure proper EBT use and that we had investigated the situation and resolved it.

Self care - This amazing Conference! Thank YOU!

I'm not a market manager but I would suggest a SPA retreat once a year ;)

I'm welcoming the winter break! Ha

Talking about these issues together helps

🙂 you were part of what made that team amazing Sierra!!

Ideas for PoP children activities and PoP Plus handouts would be very helpful. Really do not want to do the same things every year.

I love the regional idea. Even if it's less of a conference and more of a regular lunch or coffee or happy hour, or maybe a 1 hour presentation on something related. Would managers drive to a central regional location to attend?

Some high schools/programs require a certain number of volunteer hours before graduation - we had great high school volunteers help out this summer with setup, POP Clubs booth, special events, and tidy up at the end of the day.

Kim, yes to it all!!

Sorry I need to go teach. Will watch the recording when I can 🙂. Thanks all

I know a case worker for unhoused people who would be happy to present to market managers on de-escalation and resources for mental health issues.

I disagree with a lot of what John has said about mentally ill people. I have mental illnesses and I think I'm a very reasonable person most of the time.

Is there statewide and regional data for MM salaries? I feel MM are underpaid for all their work. Looking for information to take to our board to ensure our budget is appropriate. Also keeping in mind cost of living differences throughout the state.

<3 Allison -- me too. :)

There is a thing called mental health first aid. Educate yourself.

@Mara MN Council of Nonprofits does a bi-annnual survey and report. It is very useful. It is not specific to markets, but gives a good range of org size and business type.

We have a vendor in our market who has seizures and has asked the market manager and vendors to please NOT call 911 if he has a seizure in the market. It's a thing that happens to him sometimes and he has had the very unfortunate experience of being handcuffed by police when he was having a seizure.

Kathy, can you tell us why it's important for the market and not just for the vendor?

That's a hard one for us. Vendors want to say, "This is my business and my risk. What's it to you?"

It's also the market's reputation at stake.

Thanks Kathy

I liked the statement yesterday that people unwilling to interact well with others at the market can be moved out to make way for those who are willing. Same with vendors who want to be illegal: make way for those who are willing to do their best to be legal.

Same in Aitkin. No outside support.

Wadena also no outside support.

If someone goes after you for liability they will most likely go after everyone involved. My husband is a concrete contractor. A boy got hurt on his bicycle riding by a job site. It had nothing to do with our company, but the parents sued every single contractor working on that job site.

Alexandria FM does it alone.

We just started this year. All volunteer.

We would love help. Working with SNAP ed on this.

Giving managers voting rights or make board members has helped us with board dysfunction.

Yes

Yes, wind came out of no where and ruined several canopies, even with weights!

We joked about "WINDY WEDNESDAYS" nearly every market day was quite windy! I require 45lbs per pole for weights and for the weights to be put on right away.

Board overreach can be an issue, especially with volunteer boards and our needs for volunteers. Take partners (other board members ) and work to define roles, boundaries and governance best practices.

We are under a picnic shelter!!

I think that we need to consider the priority of the action plans of inclusion/equitable opportunities. If it is #1 priority, we could "hold" so many booths for new vendors for each season.

We have a very individualistic membership. It's a first come, first serve mentality, and some people want more space between tents. There isn't an existing structure in the rules to hold them to this and it seems unlikely to pass a vote.

Could you do something on a percentage basis, like 95% of our slots will follow the legacy rules, and we will begins to make 5% of those spots available to new vendors?

Love that idea Amy!

Awesome

Kim, can you send the link to where you purchased them?