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On a sunny November afternoon, Cub Scout volunteer Carolyn Jacobsen watched her 9-year-old son, Evan, open doors for the crowds of customers flocking to the Dutch Country Farmers Market in Burtonsville.
By now, the market was supposed to be closed, its maze of stands empty and the parking lot barren.
Instead, the market buzzed as customers sipped on homemade orange juice and waited in line to purchase the whole chickens prepared by Beiler's meats. And donations to the scout's popcorn fundraising event were good, Jacobsen said.
"The farmers market is a great place for us to sell popcorn because there's a lot of traffic coming in," said Jacobsen, a Burtonsville area resident. "We're glad they're still around."
The market, a mainstay in the community for more than 20 years, is scheduled to move from the Burtonsville Shopping Center to the Steward Village Shopping Center in Laurel. The new store on Ft. Meade Road will occupy the site of a former furniture store.
BMC Properties President Christopher Jones said plans to develop the Burtonsville Shopping Center have been stalled because all the permits have not been acquired. He said the building will be razed once he receives the permits.
"You're wrestling with a lot of different agencies," Jones said of the permit process.
Susan Scala-Demby, a manager for the county Department of Permitting Services, said her department is waiting for the developer to submit an approved record plat.
"There's nothing out of the ordinary," she said.
Sharon Figueroa, a clerk for the E&A store at the market, said she supports the market remaining in Burtonsville for now.
"I think business booms here and it should stay open as long as it can," said Figueroa, a Burtonsville resident.
For Jacobsen, the market is a gathering place for residents.
"There's a sense of community here," she said. "At grocery stores, it's pretty transient. People will go from one store to the next – this is an anchor store. I'm very sorry to see them leaving. But we'll follow them to Laurel."
After the tenants move out, BMC Properties plans to raze the center and build a new anchor store. Jones told The Gazette in June that at least 75 percent of materials from the old center will be used to construct the new building. He also said underground heat will be pumped into the new facility to make it more energy efficient.
