The virus that has sparked sweeping changes across the country has now hit Maitland's fresh food market.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Organisers of the Slow Food Earth Market have decided not to hold the April 2 market after farmers and volunteers expressed concerns about the risk of contracting Coronavirus.
There were 19 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Maitland on Friday and more than 160 in the Hunter.
"We have to protect our farmers and our volunteers - the farmers are saying if they get it how are they going to grow their food and do their farm work," Slow Food Hunter Valley chairwoman Amorelle Dempster said.
"It's a valid concern. We don't want to turn shoppers away and we know there are people who rely on the market to buy fresh food from our farmers and producers, so we are looking at how we can still deliver that."
The market is deemed an essential service under the federal government's COVID-19 regulations as long as social distancing is maintained.
The decision is a huge blow to shoppers who rely on the market for fresh fruit and vegetables, eggs, bakery goods and other product lines such as honey and preserves.
But, there is some good news.
Slow Food Hunter Valley is hatching a plan to offer a produce box shoppers can pre-order and pick up in their cars with as little contact as possible.
A business that specialises in deliveries has offered to be part of a home delivery service.
It is not clear at this stage when the new-look market will be up and running.
Ms Dempster hoped the April 16 market could go ahead as normal, but it would depend on the situation at that time.
"If the April 16 market cannot go ahead we will look at doing a box product for our customers. We are exploring those options at the moment and looking at how that would work and where people would collect it from," she said.
"We're also looking at home delivery options."
This isn't the first time the market has been cancelled. It has been called off previously due to the heat.
In other news: