Editor: My wife Kathy and I are Sonoma residents who frequently patronize the Friday morning Farmers Market. We were surprised to learn the other day that local cheese maker and merchant Sheana Davis had been removed from the Market by Hilda Swartz the market’s current manager. The grounds for removal were that Sheana had complained about her space assignment. Apparently our Constitutional guarantee of free speech doesn’t apply in Swartz’ personal fiefdom.
What is the purpose of having a local organic market when local producers are kept out? Sheana is a multi-generation Sonoman and a passionate and respected member of the Artisinal cheese community. Her cheese, Delice de la Vallee, named after Sonoma, is served at the French Laundry and in high-end cheese shops around the country to rave reviews. Her cheeses have received organic certification. Why would Sheana, qualified on every count, be excluded for such a trivial reason?
Hilda pulled a similar stunt last year when she ejected the “Peace Lady” whose real name is Patricia LaGrange, from the season’s first Tuesday Farmers’ market. The “Peace Lady’ is a beloved community fixture who dresses in clown clothes and make-up, wielding a flower-festooned “peace stick.” Hilda’s reasons for ejecting her was equally trivial: someone claimed they had seen her soliciting money. LaGrange said she had money in her hands because she was buying something. Swartz stirred such outrage by this and other actions that she no longer runs the Tuesday Farmers’ Market.
Our local Farmers’ Market is a precious community resource and, judging by this latest action, it is being badly managed. When a distinguished, organic, local cheese maker is banned from selling her wares at her own Farmer’s Market, the situation cries out for correction.
Alan Berger
Kathy Gori
Sonoma
Be First to Comment