Grand Forks Town Square Farmers Market members are raising money to fix their trolley so they can be mobile again.
The organizations’ trolley, used to transport vendors' products to locations around Grand Forks, has been parked since the end of last season. The trolley, which looks similar to ones that were used in Grand Forks in the early 1900s, needs gasket repairs, said Dawn Rognerud, Town Square Farmers Market president.
The trolley purchased several years ago from a California college is a 1980s model, and parts are hard to come by, Rognerud said. Instead of tracking down the parts to repair the gasket, members want to rebuild the engine. Besides rebuilding the engine, the trolley needs a few other minor repairs, wipers and window seats.
The repair work will cost a total of about $18,000, Rognerud estimated. The Town Square Farmers Market has set up a GoFundMe page and aims to raise the money so the repairs can be completed before the 2021 farmers market season, she said.
Before it broke down, the trolley was used as an office at the Town Square Farmers Market on Saturdays during the summer and during the week to deliver produce and other food products to locations, such as UND and nursing homes, where residents might have difficulty getting downtown, Rognerud said.
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“Part of our mission is to increase access to local foods and local goods and promote those things," she said. “With the trolley, we’re able to get that access to more people who aren’t able to come on Saturdays."
The Town Square Farmers Market participates in a Well Fed program that matches dollar for dollar Electronic Benefits Transfer usage, doubling the amount of produce which participants in that program receive.
The final weekend of the Town Square Farmers Market, located at Lyons Auto, 210 N. Fourth St., is Saturday, Sept. 26.
Information about how to donate money for trolley repairs is at https://www.gofundme.com/f/get-the-mobile-market-moving-again.
