The Westport Farmers’ market officially opened for their annual winter season on Thursday, Nov. 12 at Gilbertie’s Herbs and Garden Center in Westport with modifications put in place.

“[The Westport Farmers’ Market] has been here about 10 years. I think before that, they didn’t have a winter farmers market,” Henry Gilbertie, owner of Gilbertie’s, said.

The Westport Farmers’ Market partnered with Gilbertie’s in order to continue the operation of the farmers’ market into the colder months after the summer/fall season ends at 50 Imperial Ave. in Westport.

Despite the Coronavirus pandemic, the farmers’ market will continue to be open during its usual hours from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. every Thursday, but has been forced to alter its means of operation.

“When [people] come in, they can only come in one way. [People] can’t stop and linger and talk, they have to get what they are going to get, [but they can] stop at everybody,” Sheryl McShane, head of perennials at Gilbertie’s, said.

In order to abide by social distancing regulations, Gilbertie’s has also increased the space available to the vendors present every Thursday.

“Typically they would be in this main house and the herb house that’s emptied out for them, but we’ve also emptied out the next house up on the left so they’re all spread out,” McShane said. “They have markings on the floor so people keep at least six feet.

According to the Westport Farmers’ Market’s website, the farmers’ market was first established in June of 2006 by Paul Newman and Michel Nischan in the parking lot Westport Country Playhouse and continues to remain a fixture in Westport.

Since then, the farmers’ market has been a place for local vendors to share their passion with Westporters, such as Wave Hill Breads, an artisan micro-bakery located in Norwalk, Connecticut that believes “in making delicious, artisan breads with ingredients your grandmother would recognize,” their website states.

Over the years, the farmers’ market has grown from 14 vendors to about 20 and still continues to promote their original goal of providing Westport with locally sourced foods.

“My mom and I like to go to the farmers’ market during the summer because we both enjoy trying local foods,” Cailen Geller ’22 said.

Although the Coronavirus pandemic has altered numerous aspects of people’s lives, some aspects of normalcy still remain.

“I think it’s cool that even though it gets colder and the pandemic is still going on,” Tori Holoubek-Sebok ’22 said, “the farmers’ market can still be open.”