The “MoCo Made Mondays” series highlights the people and products that are involved in our MoCo Made Program and featured in the Montgomery County Food and Beverage Guide. From beer, to apples, to soup, to hot sauce, supporting local businesses has never been tastier! Get to know the neighbors proudly bringing you MoCo Made products.
COVID-19 has impacted almost every aspect of farmers market operations; while enforcing masks and social distancing is the new normal for all businesses, limiting exposure for shoppers and vendors has created new opportunities for farmers markets to think outside the box. Or, in the case of Central Farm Markets, to think about what’s inside the box, and how to get it to customers safely. Central Farm Market (CFM) runs one of the largest farmers markets in Montgomery County at Bethesda Elementary School, every Sunday. CFM also has a market at Pike and Rose, and another in Virginia. When the effects of the pandemic began to affect Montgomery County in March, CFM introduced the Farm to Fridge home delivery service at the Bethesda location, allowing customers to pre-order fresh meats, produce, dairy, baked goods and much more directly to their home. Within just the first week of launching this system, 160 orders were placed. Since March, CFM has also implemented the are-pay, pick-up & go option at all three markets, that allows customers to place an order online, directly from each vendor. Shopping at the market while following basic safety guidelines is still possible, and Debbie Moser, Co-Founder of CFM, shared that the number of market goers has actually increased at the Pike & Rose location, as compared to last year.
Most of the vendors that sold at CFM pre-COVID have returned for this season, including a number of MoCo Made vendors. 
Twin Valley Distillers, MeatCrafters, the Chocolatier’s Palette, Waredaca Brewing Company, and Metro Microgreens are among the vendors that customers can pre-order from for pick-up or delivery, or visit in person (with a mask on, of course) every Saturday at Pike and Rose, or Sunday at Bethesda Central. While the County moves to open more businesses and the State moves into Phase 3 of COVID recovery, Debbie feels strongly that customers have grown accustomed to having delivery and pick-up options available, and that these systems are here to stay. Starting this weekend, September 14th, CFM will be launching a new website to make centralized online pre-ordering easier for the customers and vendors. Check out the website at: https://www.centralfarmmarkets.com
Thank you to Central Farm Markets for their continued partnership and support of MoCo Made!
Farmers Market Managers interested in learning more: In an effort to expand this type of contactless shopping method to more farmers markets, the Farmers Market Coalition and Ecology Center through the Nutrition Incentive Hub, partnered on a virtual training, which is now available online, for Farmers Market Managers who are interested in learning how to operate a curbside or drive-thru model at their market.
