Lost in the shuffle of post-COVID adjustments was the decision by the Greenfield Farmers Market to stop paying its musicians a modest stipend ($50) for two hours of performance.

While less egregious than the mayor’s refusal to pay Paul Buchanan his court-ordered racial animus settlement, this does touch upon issues of social and economic justice: a top-down fiat with no reasonable explanation; a devaluation of an asset which provides community succor; a presumptuousness which takes away something given; a cynical reduction of musicians to a pay-to-play format; a kick in the pants to the little guy.

Markets in Keene, Brattleboro, Ashfield and elsewhere somehow find a way to pay performers in the past and post-COVID. You’ve heard us out there playing our hearts out. What gives?

For God’s sake reinstate the stipend, increase it to $100, and retroactively pay those who played for nothing last season. Thank you.

Rob Skelton (harmonica, guitar)

Montague

Kevin "Tubalove" Smith

Greenfield

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