The Holt Farmers’ Market sits at 2150 Cedar St. and is open on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Small business owners have come from around the Greater Lansing area to be a part of the market. 
Terry Rowe of Rowe Family Farms waits for customers at her stand. Rowe said she and her husband have experienced a good year for their business despite the difficulties presented by the pandemic. 
Lindsay Grant interacts with her customer at her stand inside the Holt Farmers’ Market. Grant said she lost business over the last year because she was moved outside during the pandemic. 
Chuck Grinnell manages the Holt Farmers’ Market. He said that despite more people having vaccines, the market is still moving slower than usual. 
Bonnie Strong helps a customer use her credit card to purchase a products from her stand. The stand is owned by Strong’s daughter, Katrina Jeffries, but Strong has assisted her in producing the treats and running the stand since the start of the business.
Last year, Holt Farmers’ Market vendors reported they were making more despite the pandemic closing the doors to the market for two months. This year, vendors say they have continued to make more money.
Devyn Lloyd, the operator of Eliza’s Pies, said her stand has faced some uncertainty, but overall the pandemic has helped the market in some ways.
“While sales were down a bit in the wintertime when things were real uncertain, it definitely fostered that sense of community and that we need to be keeping things local and supporting our local farmers, our local vendors,” Lloyd said.
Market Manager Chuck Grinnell said 2021 has been a good year for the market so far, and while vendors are busy, he believes they are still slower than usual.
“We have a huge elderly population that comes in here and shops, we have a couple of retirement homes and apartment complexes that are close and I don’t see as many of those people as I normally would,” Grinnell said.
Related: How COVID-19 has affected the Holt Farmers’ Market
Customers of the market have been compliant with the guidelines put in place to mitigate COVID-19, like mask-wearing and maintaining social distancing, and there have been no cases traced back to the market, Grinnell said.
Amanda Oliphant, the owner of Golly Gee Gluten Free, a stand that sells gluten-free baked goods, said she was doing so well she left her old job of teaching. She believes her success in recent months has been partly because of wider distribution of COVID-19 vaccines.
“I feel like it’s the markets are growing, people are getting out more,” Oliphant said. “And with the vaccine, everything that’s happening, it’s just bringing more people out into living.”
While many vendors at the market believe the pandemic had some positive effects for their business, the sentiment was not echoed by everyone. Cherry Pit Stop owner Lindsay Grant said she lost business because she was placed outside of the market, rather than inside the building.
“It’s been awful, I just got to come back inside,” Grant said. “I was inside for about a year, and then because of the COVID, I had to be outside.”
Grant said outside was not good for business because it is typically one of the last places customers go.
Grinnell said that the issue he thinks that is most hurting the market right now is many of the vendors are short-staffed. He said two vendors have pulled out of the market because they could not find more help. One vendor had to pull out of the market because she expanded to a kiosk in the mall and could not get enough people to work for her.
“Especially with my brick-front stores, they can’t get help,” Grinnell said. “I got a company out of Traverse City that does all kinds of hot sauces and stuff. And he can’t get workers, and so he’s not here because of it.”
Grinnell wants to bring in more vendors next year and allow for vendors to take off their masks. Terry Rowe, the co-owner of Rowe Family Farms said she would also like to take off her mask while working her fruit and vegetable stand.
“Wearing masks, it’s really hard to communicate because a lot of our customers can’t hear very well — just to be able to communicate a little better,” Rowe said.
The Holt Farmers’ Market runs on Saturdays until December. It then reopens in January.