Longtime vendor Nichols Farm and Orchard booted from Wicker Park Farmers Market

Nichols Farm and Orchard, part of the Wicker Park Farmers Market for two decades, was kicked out last week.

The Wicker Park Bucktown Chamber of Commerce said Nichols Farms repeatedly violated COVID-19 protocol — not properly wearing masks, not having a rope to properly mark boundaries and not having a hand-washing station.

But Todd Nichols, a family owner of the farm, blames their removal on a “spur-of-the-moment decision” after three years of tension with market manager Alice Howe. And he expects the farm could lose $50,000 to $70,000 because of it.

The Wicker Park Farmers Market opened July 5 — later than usual, due to the pandemic. Vendors received COVID-19 guidelines beforehand, Howe said.

Many booths didn’t follow protocol perfectly the first week, said Pamela Maass, executive director of the chamber. Other vendors adjusted, but Maass said Nichols “stayed in non-compliance.”

Maass said Nichols Farm didn’t have proper hand-washing stations or rope barriers three different weeks. The Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events inspected July 12 and found Nichols Farm in violation for not having rope barriers. Howe said Nichols Farm staff needed “constant reminders” to wear masks.

Nichols said the farm bought ropes July 16, the day they were notified of the violation, and sent them to the farmers market the following week. He added that the farm has had a hand-washing station at every market this season.

And, he said, the staffer running the Wicker Park booth is a stickler for masks.

“He’s probably one of the most mask-conscious people I know,” Nichols said. “He doesn’t take his mask off in hardly any situations.”

In 2018, Nichols said Howe asked his staff to move to a smaller spot from the one they’d had for nearly two decades.

The market added 20 vendors that year, Howe said, and the shift gave Nichols Farm space proportional to what they pay.

Nichols said he thinks the farm’s removal from the market is tied to an altercation between Howe and his staff July 26. A customer was touching produce — against market guidelines — and Nichols said his staff asked Howe to intervene.

“The market manager got very upset with us,” Nichols said. “She said at the end of the market we weren’t coming back.”

Howe remembers the interaction differently. She said she already was near the stand when she started talking to the customer, who wasn’t a native English speaker.

Her comment about not returning came earlier that day, Howe said, when the manager of Nichols Farm’s booth was upset about another produce vendor setting up nearby.

“He told me he would not be returning,” Howe said. “There were already a few other issues with them, reminding them about masks and everything. I said ‘I guess you don’t need to return, then.’”

Howe said she approached Nichols’ staff at the end of the day and was met with hostility.

Nichols Farm received an email from Howe July 28 saying they couldn’t return to the market because of “several years” of “incredibly difficult and disrespectful staff.”

Nichols demanded a “formal written statement” on the decision. Maass emailed the next day, detailing failure to comply with COVID-19 protocol on July 5, 12 and 19. The email said the removal decision was final this year.

Maass told the Sun-Times the board discussed the decision extensively.

“It’s not a personal vendetta that I have with the farm,” Howe said. “Just because people are difficult to work with doesn’t mean I hold a personal grudge against them and remove them unjustly.”

Nichols said he took to social media following the second email, wanting the public to have the chance to decide whether their removal was justified. He said he admits their stand violated different protocols, but the punishment seems “drastic.”

Nichols Farm will continue to make community-supported agriculture deliveries in the area, Nichols said.