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WILKES-BARRE &mdash; Making sure his mother was happy made Officer Mike Boyle happy too.
				And the son did it with the singlemindedness that the mission required &mdash; locate and purchase rhubarb at the Wilkes-Barre Farmers Market for Jacqueline Boyle.
				&ldquo;It was $3 and I gave them $5 because I&rsquo;m glad to see them here,&rdquo; Boyle said Thursday as he walked across Public Square clutching a plastic bag containing two bunches of stalks.
				The market returned for another year, but with changes for the coronavirus that almost shut it down as it&rsquo;s done to so many other seasonal events.
				&ldquo;It took a lot of phone calls, chatting back and forth,&rdquo; said Patty Hughes, the special events coordinator for Wilkes-Barre.
				Her job was to get them back and to explain they had to work differently, wearing masks and keeping themselves and their employees a safe distance apart when dealing with customers on the other side of the table where they displayed their goods.
				At 10 a.m. Miss Luzerne County 2020 Victoria Vespico of Dallas sang the national anthem. Afterward, Mayor George Brown signaled the market&rsquo;s opening start with the blast of an air horn.
				&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sorry, because of the pandemic, we had to limit it, but look it, let&rsquo;s be positive. Going forward, we are going to open up to more people and I thank you for coming out,&rdquo; Brown said.
				The market is scheduled to run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. every Thursday through Nov. 19.
				It turns out the Square offered the ideal outdoor environment that other places with farmers&rsquo; markets were transitioning to in an attempt to mitigate the spread of the contagious and deadly virus, added Larry Newman, executive director of the downtown revitalization organization, the Diamond City Partnership.
				&ldquo;What they were moving back to was something like this,&rdquo; Newman said.
				Eight farmers set up along the perimeter of the Square between the planters so their tables faced the walkway where people strolled and stopped to see the variety of vegetables, flowers and plants for sale. By design the food and merchandise vendors that would have occupied spots toward the center of the downtown green space were missing as part of virus mitigation protocol, but could fit in later as the season progresses.
				&ldquo;People talk about needing to be resilient, this is resilient. That&rsquo;s what this is,&rdquo; Newman said.
				At Golomb&rsquo;s stand, Turki Marghalani, a King&rsquo;s College student from Saudi Arabia, stopped the stroller that his 8-month-old son Sultan sat strapped in and bought flowers.
				Marghalani showed off his purchases. &ldquo;I also got strawberry mint,&rdquo; he said, opening another bag.
				His visit and those of others reassured Audrey Golomb. She worried if the pandemic would cancel the market. The fact that it didn&rsquo;t gave her hope, but she still wondered what it would be like.
				&ldquo;I&rsquo;m just hoping that people will come out,&rdquo; Golomb said.
				Barry Blannett of Kingston showed up with a shopping bag to fill and a desire to help.
				&ldquo;You&rsquo;ve got to support the local businesses,&rdquo; Blannett said.
				Purple Pepper Farms of Lake Winola drew customers for its strawberries, onions, garlic among other fresh vegetables.
				&ldquo;We&rsquo;re glad everyone come out to support us,&rdquo; said Purple Pepper&rsquo;s Trevor Brown.
				Larry O&rsquo;Malia liked what he saw from his stand. He had a limited variety of plants and produce and expected to bring more to market from his fields in Plains Township over the coming weeks and months.
				&ldquo;No matter how it goes from here, it&rsquo;s worth it,&rdquo; O&rsquo;Malia said.

Market’s opening a fete in face of coronavirus