The Hilo Farmers Market has been ordered to remove its tarps by the county for zoning and fire safety violations.
Manager Keith De La Cruz sent a message to the market’s vendors on Saturday to inform them the remove their tarps, tents, poles, produce boxes and other items by the end of the day.
“I have been working in good faith to resolve notices of violations received from the County since June 2017. It has been a long and complex process. The County has since issued an Order to remove all existing tarps immediately,” De La Cruz wrote.
“… Vendors will need to purchase their own pop up tents; 10’x10’, straight legged, white color tarp recommended. We will need to … take down the pop up tents at the end of each market.”
The market was closed on Sunday and reopened Monday with a number of vendors under the new pop-up tents.
“Why did Keith leave this whole issue until the last minute and also why did he not inform the vendors as to the problem the County has with the tarps as he had them?” one vendor, who spoke under the condition of anonymity said. “The vendors have all been in the dark about these issues and the cause of this present situation.”
A more detailed version of this story will appear in Tuesday’s Tribune-Herald.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.