ORANGE : 3 Churches Object to Farmers Market Plan

A proposal for a farmers market on Sundays brought objections from church leaders at a City Council meeting this week.

Three churches urged council members to delay voting on the proposal because the market, which would close a block of North Orange Street to traffic from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sundays, would put a crunch on church members trying to park. Several church officials also said the “carnival atmosphere” of the market was not appropriate on Sundays.

Council members said they were dismayed that the city and civic groups had not been better informed about the potential problems.

Nancy Magliato of the Son Light Christian Center said that the antique dealers are not the only ones who need to worry about Old Town patrons.

“Our only time of business, shall we say, is on Sunday,” she said.

Magliato joined other church leaders in objecting to the “party atmosphere” that a farmers market would bring.

William Teachout, president of the board of trustees for the First Presbyterian Church, said he envisioned having to post guards outside the church parking lot every Sunday, something they do during the city’s annual street fair. And, he added, “we would like to keep the Sabbath holy and not have it on a Sunday.”

The same church leaders said they do not object to the idea of a farmers market but do object to the time and place. Mary Jo Harper, assistant minister at the First United Methodist Church, noted that the market would be “a clean and upright family activity.”

The City Council delayed the decision until July 12, despite protests from merchants that valuable time would be lost.

Mary Lou Lorenzini, market manager for the Orange County Farm Bureau, told the council that the churches and the city were “missing the boat” by delaying the market. “I, too, am a Christian,” she added.

The market, she explained, would be run by the Orange County Farm Bureau and the county’s Health Care Agency, which would certify farmers and take care of insurance, traffic diversion, set-up and cleanup.