Occupy Boston has put Dewey Square in the limelight for two months. But vendors at an adjacent local farmer's market haven't exactly greeted their new neighbors with open arms.
Zac Shaiman has been the manager for the Dewey Square Farmer's Market since the spring. He scans the sight of the square, surveying the scene as some of his vendors start preparing for the twice a week market in the Rose Kennedy Greenway directly across from the square.
About 15 area farmers and other establishments had set up tents on this November Thursday to sell products like organic vegetables or homemade croissants. He takes a long drag on his cigarette as he thinks about how the protest is impacting both his vendors and his customers.
"The vendors complain that it's too loud from the drum circles and they can't hear the customers," Shaiman says, as he takes a long drag on his cigarette. "Some of my customers say this is great, but on the other hand, some don't want to come down here because they think it smells bad."
The Occupy "Tent City" takes up the space in the square that vendors used to to be able to drive their supply trucks through. Shaiman said market organizers were forced to devise alternate routes for business owners to be able to haul their supplies to market.
Some vendors were less diplomatic than Shaiman. "We're making less because we're selling less," said Gabriela Heer, sipping on hot chocolate as she manned the Swissbäkers vendor tent. We still have some regular customers, but no new customers." As she talked, only one customer approached to buy an almond croissant.
But Sandy Harrison saw things differently. He was serving breakfast at the Clover Food Truck, which has served customers five days a week at Dewey Square for more than a year and a half.
The company is now giving moral support to employees who spend their free time camping out next door and has even hired some of the Occupy protestors as new truck staffers.
"Ninety-eight percent of this company is young, underpaid, and overeducated, so we're all for it," Harrison said.
He nodded his head in support when saying protesters haven't really hurt business, but instead have become a talking point among customers and employees.
With the Farmer's Market running until the end of December and Occupy Boston members fighting to winterize their tents, it seems as though the uneven relationship between local vendors and protesters could continue for some time to come.
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