A mix of reactions at Wallingford Farmers Market

By Izzy Marvin

Hello! On Wednesday, July 10, I tabled at the Wallingford Farmers Market again. The day started off exciting! Immediately, a man approached me and took a sample copy of The Christian Science Monitor. I then asked if he would like a subscription and he said he already had one and has been a subscriber for over 50 years!! He was super excited to grab a magazine to read at the market here!

After this I had two negative interactions. I offered a sample copy to a man walking by and he approached me. The man then laughed, shook his head, told me it was religious, then told me to take the rest of the day off. This man was very opposed to this news magazine and disliked it so much he did not want me at the market. A little while later I offered a man a sample copy and he yelled “No! Nope! That is God awful. You should not be here!” and then he went to the manager’s booth and said what I am offering is bad. These two negative interactions back to back did not feel good.

Later on though, a father and daughter came up to me. They didn’t ask any questions, they just took two sample copies, smiled and left.

An older gentleman I saw in a previous week came up and grabbed another sample copy and said he would look into getting a subscription!!

A cute interaction I had was when a young little girl ran up to me and started talking to me about the park then her mother and her mothers friend and daughter came up as well. The two mothers were interested in hearing about The Monitor and both took a copy by the end of our conversation. One of them even said they would look into getting a subscription!

After this a college age boy came up and grabbed a sample copy and seemed to be very eager to read it.

By the end of the day I was able to give out 7 sample copies. Overall, I was not feeling loved in Wallingford today, but I will not let that stop me from coming back or continuing outreach for the Monitor.