At 8:40 a.m. the power cord to our card reader gave up the ghost. At 10 a.m. an inch-deep river began to pour across the pavilion’s south floor. At 10:25 a.m. I noticed huge plumes of smoke blowing across King Jack Park’s commons, it was coming from the amphitheater, I dialed the fire department. At 10:40 a.m. I was informed that our backup card reader was a fail. At 10:42 a.m. I spotted a small flame atop our market’s kitchen walk-in freezer and called to request the firefighters come across the park to handle a new situation. Lastly, the musician’s car wouldn’t start after close.

This is reminiscent of a famous children’s book staring a young man named Alexander. But folks, what I took away from this day was not terrible, horrible, no good, or very bad. It was a glistening example of this farmers market community I prattle on about every week.

You see, when the card reader went down one of our volunteers rushed to Walmart to see if the adapter we needed was in-store, of course, it was only available online. Another two volunteers jumped behind the desk to let me head to my house for an adapter that would fit and grab an undamaged power cord for the backup card reader. One of the volunteers had come to the market to just shop but recognized a need for help.

Later, when I was shutting off the power to our walk-in freezer due to the flame coming out of its rooftop compressor, I knew the market’s emergency plan needed to initiate. 

Our kitchen master, Carletta Renteria, got here so fast and began helping me call cold storage and restaurant friends to find homes for all the frozen products we house for ranches, restaurants, food trucks, the parks department, and our Summer Kids Meals. If the unit couldn’t be repaired quickly we would have to move the thousands of pounds of food in the next eight hours before defrost occurred.

There was a point Saturday morning when I remember emerging from the kitchen in the line of firefighters and just taking a breath outside. The rain hit my cheeks and the sights I saw warmed my heart, putting aside the mounting anxiety. Gazing into the pavilion I saw three volunteers smiling and calmly explaining things to customers. To the south were children gleefully puddle stomping under the pavilion as parents shopped. To my left, I noticed Howard, of Kings Kettle Corn, bringing in a chest freezer, and soon another friend of the market arrived with a chest freezer in the back of his pick up. Parks Director Tom Reeder, got a stand-up freezer turned on and cooling for us even when it was his day off. We are a community, a gathering place, and together we are strong.

After market was packed in and locked up, I climbed to the roof to see what the Allied Refrigeration repairman was dealing with. Luckily the unit was fixable and by miracle, he had the needed parts on his truck. Carletta stayed until repairs were confirmed successful, and I moved on to join the market board of directors meeting in progress. Of all weekends, this was the date for the board’s annual “retreat.”

For the past three years, the Webb City Farmers Market board of directors has held an afternoon-long meeting to review and plan, and since there are snacks, we call it a retreat. Naturally, it all was happening in the aftermath of an unprecedented market. I gave a quick briefing of the morning’s happenings and then we dug our heels into the issues of our aging marketplace. Again, these people who share a love of the market blow me away. Their support, constructive concern, and attention to our mission are going to be the defining force to carry on this market. Next week I will reveal our theme for 2022 and what to expect.