Woodstock Farmers Market, Woodstock: Patrick Crowl, Founder
“If I focused on the negative side of life, I’d be in therapy all day. You just have to keep going, keep moving forward. You just do what it takes to get through a calamity.” –Patrick Crowl, Woodstock Farmers Market
The Woodstock Farmers Market has been a gathering place for community for more than 30 years, providing a cheerful atmosphere packed with wholesome, delicious food and drink. The market has also survived a devastating fire and two floods. We invited Patrick Crowl, Woodstock Farmers Market founder, to share his reflections on what keeps him going.
Tropical Storm Irene in 2011, and now this July flood. Walk us through your reopening process.
We went through three phases: clean out/clean up, demo and reconstruction, and reopening. By the third week of August, all the contractors were out of the building. Our goal was to open by September 15, but thanks to the hard work of our contractors and staff, we were able to open a week earlier.
And how about the Farmers Flood Fund you established on July 21?
The community response has been overwhelming, and we’ve been humbled by their support. When we put the flood fund together, similar to any special initiative in the past, the community exceeded our hopes. A number of folks showed up to help us clean out. It astounds me even though we’ve been here for 30-plus years. They just keep showing up for us. And beyond the financial support, people sent us good wishes, good vibes, and good visits. All those things helped keep our spirits up during the challenging weeks.
In less than two months, the flood fund raised more than $200,000. We had so many uninsured costs piling up, but the funds primarily helped us cover payroll while we were closed for reconstruction. We also put together a gift card program that offered a small discount for the recipient. We hoped this would ramp up excitement, get folks back to the store, and generate some much-needed cash. Every dollar helped because we were doing it all ourselves, with no state or federal funding. We couldn’t afford to wait.
I know you care deeply about your staff. What happened with them?
Taking care of our staff was the most important thing. The staff helped deep clean and sanitize everything, paint, take inventory and update records, take photographs of equipment and invoices of products for insurance claims, anything that needed to get done. A local businessman essentially gave us space to set up an office in West Woodstock so our operations could continue as smoothly as possible.
With the flood fund and digging into our own savings, bank loans, small grants and a credit line, we’ve been able to keep the staff fully employed since July 10. That allowed us to hit the ground running when we reopened in early September.
What happened with your inventory?
In the days immediately following the flood, we donated perfectly good perishables to the Woodstock Senior Center and two local food shelves. Helping Hands of the Upper Valley came with a big truck and took the bulk of the remaining food to other hard-hit locations in Ludlow, Montpelier, and Barre. We’re pleased our salvageable inventory went to places where people needed food.
You were hit hard by Tropical Storm Irene in 2011. How did this July flood compare?
It’s hard to believe that a fairly small river like the Ottauquechee could come up so fast and do so much damage. Irene pushed five feet of water through our store and turned everything upside down. This storm brought two feet of water into the store, which fried all the equipment motors, but at least things stayed in place this time.
The water came up at 7 a.m. on July 10 and then receded. During that time, I ran to Lebanon to buy a Honda pump thinking we could stay ahead of the flooding. Our team tried to fortify the back doors with sandbags and bags of soil and mulch from our garden center. We tried to pump out the water, but when the rain came back in the afternoon, the water had risen to our knees and was waist-deep by 4:30 or 5. The chief of police came by and said we had to leave. I was hellbent on staying but we had to go. By then, the river was up to the bottom of our sign out front, about four feet deep.
So you’ve endured two devastating floods. What keeps you going?
Well, if I focused on the negative side of life, I’d be in therapy all day. You just have to keep going, keep moving forward. You just do what it takes to get through a calamity. In the end, I’m a grocer. We provide a service to the community, and that includes the shoppers and the people whose prod-ucts we sell. I’ll keep at this until I can’t.
