Cherry Street Farmers Market Ask For Pets To Stay Home

Changes are coming to the Cherry Street Farmers Market, after an incident a couple of Saturday's ago has forced a re-evaluation of the pet policy. Not all pet owners will like it, but the health department will be very happy.

The Cherry Street Market is a wonderfully collegial. Saturday morning is a tangle of vendors, people and pets that run, every Saturday morning from early April until mid-October.

It was wonderfully collegial until a couple of Saturdays ago. Penni Shelton, the Administrator for the Farmer's Market, said a man had his three dogs there and a lady asked if she could pet one.

"She just commented and asked if she could approach the dog and apparently, now I wasn't there, but this one dog didn't like her and jumped and bit her in the abdomen," Shelton said.

The dogs were on a leash and weren't running loose, but there is still potential for problems.

Scott Swearingen, with the farmers market, said, "We've gotta have a happy safe experience for people."

"We've always got people slipping in dog messes and dogs hike their legs on fresh fruits and vegetables," Shelton said.

Maybe at the Bark Park on Charles Page Boulevard might be a better place to take the dog on a Saturday morning, because there, dogs can always act like dogs.

So beginning Saturday, they are asking that people not brings dogs into the market area. That will make the Health Department happy, and might be a better experience for dogs and people.

We had heard there's a review of animal ordinances going on, and it's true. It's a Mayor's task force and they are reviewing all of them; what are we doing, what are we not doing?

Separately, the Parks Department is conducting a review of the rules for animals in parks.