PARKVILLE, Mo. — When you drive into Parkville, the iconic farmers market stares back at you.
It's been staple in the community for decades, but after a tractor trailer hit it on Monday, and a partial collapse, it’s impacting tradition.
For one family, that tradition starts on the farm.
“[My] Grandparents, his mom and dad, Mike and I [run the farm],” Joyce McFarland, who helps run McFarland Plants and Vegetables, said.
McFarland says it’s a tradition that runs deep.
They’ve been farming the land for almost a century, and have a habit of never missing a farmers market.
“[We plant] Cabbage, tomatoes, squash, peppers and onion,” McFarland said.
When a tractor trailer turned right into the Parkville market stand on Monday, half of it went with it crashing down.
“You’ve got to be kidding me, this cannot happen twice in six weeks,” Shelley Oberdiek, the Parkville Market Manager, said.
A damaged low clearance sign posted by the city told the story of the crash.
“The structure has been here for 30 years,” Oberdiek said. “I’ve been coming down here for a vendor for over 20 years, this is the first time this is ever happened. It’s one of those things that nobody could help except for the truck that hit it.”
Vendors won’t be able to set up shop under the tin roof anymore, they’ll have to move to the parking lot during peak season.
“Vendors are scrambling to get tents,” Oberdiek said.
Luckily for McFarland, she said her family does own tents.
“We do have them, I’m going to pick them up in just a little bit,” McFarland said.
The crash is causing a decades-long tradition to change.
“Being sentimental about it was there,” Oberdiek said.
The City of Parkville was already in talks of rehabbing the structure, but this crash is expediting the process for a chance at new tradition.
“It is really bittersweet and sad to see it go, but [I'm] excited for a new beginning too,” McFarland said.
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